G17: G.17 Annual Revision

The Federal Reserve Board issued its annual revision to the index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity and capacity utilization. Data for the new series are available on the Board's public website and the Data Download Program.

The Federal Reserve has revised its index of industrial production (IP) and the related measures of capacity and capacity utilization. Measured from fourth quarter to fourth quarter, total IP is now reported to have dropped 0.3 percentage point more in 2009; its gains in both 2010 and 2011 were essentially unchanged from what was previously reported. With these minor revisions, the broad contour of total IP in recent years is similar to previous estimates. Since the trough of the last recession in June 2009, total IP has reversed about three-fourths of its peak-to-trough decline.

Capacity utilization rates for recent years were revised down. The revisions show that the rate of capacity utilization for total industry was 0.7 percentage point lower than previously estimated in the fourth quarter of 2010 and 0.4 percentage point lower in 2011, primarily as a result of small upward revisions to estimates of industrial capacity. The capacity utilization rate for the fourth quarter of 2008 was revised down 0.3 percentage point, and the rate in the final quarter of 2009 was revised down about 0.8 percentage point.