G17: G.17 Annual Revision Released

The Federal Reserve has revised its index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity and capacity utilization. On net, the revisions to total IP for recent years were negative: For the 2015-17 period, the current estimates show rates of change that are 0.4 to 0.7 percentage point lower in each year. Total IP is still reported to have moved up about 22 1/2 percent from the end of the recession in mid-2009 through late 2014. Subsequently, the index declined in 2015, edged down in 2016, and increased in 2017. The incorporation of detailed data for manufacturing from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2016 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) accounts for the majority of the differences between the current and the previously published estimates.Revisions to capacity for total industry were mixed. Capacity growth was revised up about 1/2 percentage point for 2016, but revisions to other recent years were negative. Capacity for total industry is estimated to have expanded less than 1 percent in 2015, 2016, and 2017, but it is expected to increase about 2 percent in 2018.