The industrial production index numbers are out and it ain't pretty, a 1.1% decline in May with a Q1 decrease of 1.6% and a 13.4% decrease for the year. Capacity is at a whopping 68%, an all time low. Even during the 1982 recession the low was 70% for industrial capacity utilization.
Construction is the worst of the lot, as to be expected with the burst of the housing bubble, at 21.5% for the yearly drop.
More tables and data at the Federal Reserve. Click on graphs to zoom.
These graphs, excluding high technologies, really capture what happened to U.S. tech during the 2001 time frame (it went offshore).
Around the globe
Russia's industrial production dropped 17% in May, 2009. Remember, this is just one month!
Euro-Zone dropped a record 21.6% for the year.
China (of course), reports a 8.9% increase for May.
Recent comments