Surveys

Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

August 30, 2021

Results Table

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Aug Index	Jul Index	Change	Series Average	Trend*	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	20.8	31.0	–10.2	10.6	15(+)	34.8	51.2	14.0
Capacity Utilization	21.7	29.9	–8.2	8.4	15(+)	32.3	57.1	10.6
New Orders	15.6	26.8	–11.2	6.5	15(+)	35.7	44.2	20.1
Growth Rate of Orders	10.7	25.8	–15.1	0.4	14(+)	26.7	57.3	16.0
Unfilled Orders	22.6	20.2	+2.4	–2.0	14(+)	32.9	56.8	10.3
Shipments	15.2	31.6	–16.4	9.4	15(+)	33.4	48.4	18.2
Delivery Time	19.5	19.7	–0.2	0.5	14(+)	32.0	55.5	12.5
Finished Goods Inventories	4.2	–8.7	+12.9	–3.4	1(+)	25.3	53.7	21.1
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	74.9	73.5	+1.4	25.9	16(+)	78.4	18.1	3.5
Prices Received for Finished Goods	38.1	40.9	–2.8	7.0	13(+)	41.5	55.1	3.4
Wages and Benefits	43.4	46.0	–2.6	19.0	16(+)	43.8	55.8	0.4
Employment	21.9	23.7	–1.8	6.8	14(+)	28.8	64.3	6.9
Hours Worked	24.3	24.2	+0.1	3.1	14(+)	30.7	62.9	6.4
Capital Expenditures	12.4	15.4	–3.0	6.6	13(+)	24.7	63.0	12.3

General Business Conditions Current (versus previous month)
Indicator	Aug Index	Jul Index	Change	Series Average	Trend**	% Reporting Improved	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	11.5	22.2	–10.7	7.0	15(+)	27.3	56.9	15.8
General Business Activity	9.0	27.3	–18.3	2.9	13(+)	22.5	64.0	13.5

Indicator	Aug Index	Jul Index	Change	Series Average	Trend*	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Outlook Uncertainty†	21.1	14.6	+6.5	12.9	4(+)	29.5	62.1	8.4

Business Indicators Relating to Facilities and Products in Texas Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Aug Index	Jul Index	Change	Series Average	Trend*	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Decrease
Production	44.3	48.4	–4.1	38.5	16(+)	53.6	37.1	9.3
Capacity Utilization	38.1	39.4	–1.3	35.4	16(+)	46.1	45.9	8.0
New Orders	40.7	43.3	–2.6	36.2	16(+)	50.1	40.5	9.4
Growth Rate of Orders	29.0	31.5	–2.5	27.0	16(+)	41.1	46.7	12.1
Unfilled Orders	–6.0	4.2	–10.2	4.0	1(–)	14.4	65.1	20.4
Shipments	42.0	47.4	–5.4	37.1	16(+)	52.3	37.4	10.3
Delivery Time	0.3	5.1	–4.8	–1.4	7(+)	18.3	63.7	18.0
Finished Goods Inventories	11.4	12.7	–1.3	0.2	10(+)	23.9	63.6	12.5
Prices Paid for Raw Materials	55.7	43.8	+11.9	34.0	17(+)	65.9	23.9	10.2
Prices Received for Finished Goods	39.8	38.6	+1.2	20.0	16(+)	48.9	42.0	9.1
Wages and Benefits	60.6	52.6	+8.0	38.1	16(+)	60.7	39.2	0.1
Employment	44.5	43.5	+1.0	22.6	15(+)	44.9	54.7	0.4
Hours Worked	13.9	14.1	–0.2	9.4	16(+)	24.2	65.5	10.3
Capital Expenditures	21.6	26.0	–4.4	19.8	15(+)	34.6	52.4	13.0

General Business Conditions Future (six months ahead)
Indicator	Aug Index	Jul Index	Change	Series Average	Trend**	% Reporting Increase	% Reporting No Change	% Reporting Worsened
Company Outlook	17.6	35.5	–17.9	20.8	15(+)	31.0	55.6	13.4
General Business Activity	15.1	37.1	–22.0	14.7	15(+)	28.6	57.9	13.5

*Shown is the number of consecutive months of expansion or contraction in the underlying indicator. Expansion is indicated by a positive index reading and denoted by a (+) in the table. Contraction is indicated by a negative index reading and denoted by a (–) in the table.

**Shown is the number of consecutive months of improvement or worsening in the underlying indicator. Improvement is indicated by a positive index reading and denoted by a (+) in the table. Worsening is indicated by a negative index reading and denoted by a (–) in the table.

†Added to survey in January 2018.

Data have been seasonally adjusted as necessary, with the exception of the outlook uncertainty index, which does not yet have a sufficiently long time series to test for seasonality.

Questions regarding the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey can be addressed to Emily Kerr at emily.kerr@dal.frb.org.