Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - G.17

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Release Date: November 16, 2022

Industrial production decreased 0.1 percent in October, and its gain in September was revised down to 0.1 percent. Manufacturing output edged up 0.1 percent in October, and its increases in July, August, and September were all lower than previously reported. In October, the index for mining stepped down 0.4 percent, and the index for utilities fell 1.5 percent. At 104.7 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in October was 3.3 percent above its year-earlier reading. Capacity utilization decreased 0.2 percentage point in October to 79.9 percent, a rate that is 0.3 percentage point above its long-run (1972–2021) average.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Summary
Seasonally adjusted
Industrial production 2017=100 Percent change
2022 2022 Oct. '21 to
Oct. '22
May[r] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[p] May[r] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[p]
       
Total index 104.2 104.1 104.8 104.7 104.8 104.7 -.1 -.1 .7 -.1 .1 -.1 3.3
Previous estimates 104.2 104.1 104.9 104.8 105.2   -.1 -.1 .7 -.1 .4    
       
Major market groups
Final Products 104.8 104.3 104.9 105.3 105.4 105.8 -.6 -.5 .6 .4 .2 .4 4.5
Consumer goods 105.2 104.4 104.9 104.9 104.8 105.0 -.8 -.8 .4 .0 -.1 .1 2.6
Business equipment 97.0 96.8 97.4 98.4 99.2 100.0 -.3 -.2 .6 1.0 .8 .8 7.7
Nonindustrial supplies 102.7 101.9 102.3 102.1 102.0 101.7 -.2 -.8 .4 -.3 -.1 -.2 1.3
Construction 105.1 104.0 104.5 104.2 104.8 104.1 .2 -1.1 .6 -.3 .6 -.7 .8
Materials 104.0 104.5 105.3 104.9 105.1 104.7 .3 .5 .8 -.4 .2 -.4 3.0
       
Major industry groups
Manufacturing (see note below) 101.9 101.3 101.8 101.9 102.1 102.3 -.5 -.6 .5 .1 .2 .1 2.4
Previous estimates 101.9 101.3 102.0 102.3 102.8   -.4 -.6 .6 .4 .4    
Mining 113.6 115.6 117.2 117.0 117.9 117.4 1.1 1.7 1.4 -.2 .7 -.4 6.9
Utilities 107.0 107.3 107.8 106.3 104.6 103.0 .3 .3 .4 -1.3 -1.7 -1.5 2.5

Capacity utilization Percent of capacity Capacity
growth
Average
1972-
2021 		1988-
89
high 		1990-
91
low 		1994-
95
high 		 
2009
low 		 
2021
Oct. 		   
2022 Oct. '21 to
Oct. '22
May[r] June[r] July[r] Aug.[r] Sept.[r] Oct.[p]
       
Total industry 79.6 85.2 78.8 85.0 66.6 78.6 80.0 79.8 80.2 80.0 80.1 79.9 1.6
Previous estimates             80.0 79.8 80.3 80.1 80.3    
       
Manufacturing (see note below) 78.2 85.6 77.3 84.7 63.4 78.3 79.6 79.0 79.3 79.3 79.5 79.5 .9
Previous estimates             79.6 79.1 79.5 79.7 80.0    
Mining 86.3 86.2 84.3 88.6 78.9 85.7 86.7 87.9 88.9 88.5 88.9 88.4 3.6
Utilities 84.7 92.9 84.5 92.9 78.0 72.1 75.7 75.7 75.9 74.7 73.3 72.1 2.6
       
Stage-of-process groups
Crude 85.5 87.9 84.8 90.0 76.9 84.7 85.8 86.9 87.6 87.0 87.2 86.7 2.6
Primary and semifinished 80.1 86.5 78.0 87.8 63.5 77.4 79.1 78.4 78.8 78.3 78.2 77.7 1.0
Finished 76.7 83.3 77.5 80.7 66.4 77.3 78.8 78.4 78.7 79.0 79.2 79.5 1.6
[r] Revised. [p] Preliminary.
Market Groups

The major market groups recorded mixed results in October. Gains were registered by consumer goods, business equipment, and defense and space equipment, while losses were posted by construction supplies and materials. The index for business supplies was unchanged. Within consumer goods, the largest increases were in automotive products and in appliances, furniture, and carpeting products; the rise in business equipment was broad based. The cutback in materials resulted from widespread decreases among nondurable materials and from a drop in energy materials concentrated in oil and natural gas extraction and in electricity generation; the output of durable materials moved up modestly.

Industry Groups

Manufacturing output moved up 0.1 percent in October and was 2.4 percent above its year-earlier level. The index for durable manufacturing rose 0.5 percent, the index for nondurable manufacturing fell 0.3 percent, and the index for other manufacturing (publishing and logging) was unchanged. Within durables, increases of at least 1.5 percent were recorded by electrical equipment, appliances, and components; aerospace and miscellaneous transportation equipment; and motor vehicles and parts. Within nondurables, gains for printing and support, plastics and rubber products, and apparel and leather products were outweighed by losses elsewhere, especially for petroleum and coal products, textile and product mills, and paper.

Mining output declined 0.4 percent in October: A drop in oil and gas extraction outweighed improvements in oil and gas well drilling and in coal mining. The output for utilities fell 1.5 percent, as a decrease for electric utilities more than offset an increase for natural gas utilities.

Capacity utilization for manufacturing was unchanged in October at 79.5 percent, a rate that is 1.3 percentage points above its long-run average. The operating rate for mining fell 0.5 percentage point to 88.4 percent, while the operating rate for utilities declined 1.2 percentage points to 72.1 percent. Capacity utilization for mining was 2.1 percentage points above its long-run average, but the rate for utilities remained substantially below its long-run average of 84.7 percent.

Note. The statistics in this release cover output, capacity, and capacity utilization in the U.S. industrial sector, which is defined by the Federal Reserve to comprise manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities. Mining is defined as all industries in sector 21 of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS); electric and gas utilities are those in NAICS sectors 2211 and 2212. Manufacturing comprises NAICS manufacturing industries (sector 31-33) plus the logging industry and the newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishing industries. Logging and publishing are classified elsewhere in NAICS (under agriculture and information respectively), but historically they were considered to be manufacturing and were included in the industrial sector under the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. In December 2002 the Federal Reserve reclassified all its industrial output data from the SIC system to NAICS.

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Last Update: November 16, 2022