Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

REVISION OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION

On November 7, 2005, the Federal Reserve Board issued its annual revision to the index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity and capacity utilization. The base year for the indexes of industrial production, capacity, and electric power use was advanced to 2002.

The revisions to the IP index were principally derived from the inclusion of information contained in annual reports issued by the Census Bureau--namely, the 2003 Annual Survey of Manufactures, the revised data from the 2002 Census of Manufactures, and selected 2004 Current Industrial Reports. Annual data on minerals (except fuels) for 2003 and 2004 from the U.S. Geological Survey and updated deflators from the Bureau of Economic Analysis were also introduced. The updating also included revisions to the monthly indicator for each industry (either physical product data or production-worker hours) and revisions to seasonal factors.

The Federal Reserve discontinued its use of survey data of industrial electric power use in the industrial production index. The Federal Reserve is proposing to discontinue the survey itself; the period for public comment on the proposal ends November 28, 2005.

Capacity and capacity utilization were revised to incorporate data from the Census Bureau�s 2004 Survey of Plant Capacity, which covers manufacturing, along with new data on capacity from the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other organizations.

The revision is available on the Board�s website at www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G17. The revised data are also available through the website of the Department of Commerce. Further information on these revisions is available from the Board�s Industrial Output Section (telephone 202-452-3197).

Statistical releases

Last update: November 17, 2005