Overall, US manufacturing again reached its peak manufacturing levels achieved in 2007 in July of 2014, when the manufacturing output index as measured by the Federal Reserve at last reached the 100 level that equals the monthly average for that peak and baseline year of 2007.
Since then, that index number has basically flatlined, hovering in a narrow band around 101, scores that mean that manufacturing output for a given month is about 1% above average 2007 levels (the index was 101.7 in June). That being the case, any even modest manufacturing slow down could easily again drop the index below that 100 mark eight years later.
Of course, however, the overall score of around 101 masks major disparities across different manufacturing sectors.
As
we do every six months, SCDigest took a look at the scores in June for
select manufacturing industries, numbers which compare the output in June for those
sectors against their average 2007 production levels, ranked from highest index score to lowest, as shown in the chart below.
In
other words, production of heavy duty trucks in June was up 77.2% from
the average for that sector in 2007 - an impressive gain that would be
even larger if measured from the bottom in June 2009.
US Output from Select Industries in June Versus 2007 Average Score for that Sector
| Sector |
June Score |
| Semiconductors and Equipment |
307.8 |
| Heavy Duty Trucks |
177.2 |
| Railroad Rolling Stock |
159.8 |
| Computers and Electronics |
155.3 |
| Medical Equipment/Supplies |
125.3 |
| Motor Vehicles and Parts |
117.8 |
| Ship and Boat Buidling |
115.6 |
| Machinery |
112.2 |
| Food |
108.2 |
| Consumer Durables |
106.9 |
| Aerospace Products |
106.9 |
| Metals |
101.6 |
| Plastic and Rubber Products |
101.6 |
| Consumer Goods |
99.2 |
| Paperboard |
97.7 |
| Chemicals |
93.2 |
| Foundries |
91.8 |
| Communications Equipment |
91.2 |
| Pharma and Medicine |
85.6 |
| Household Appliances |
83.6 |
| Paper |
82.9 |
| Industrial Gas |
81.6 |
| Furniture |
78.7 |
| Computers Only |
72.0 |
| Hardware |
67.6 |
| Textiles |
62.5 |
| Apparel and Leather Products |
61.0 |
As can be seen, the fortunes of different sectors have fared quite
differently over time. While the semiconductor industry in the US has
seen output soar some 207% since 2007 (lots of computer and cell phone
chips still produced in the US), sectors such as apparel, hardware, and
furniture have continued to see sharp output declines versus 2007.
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