It was a banner year for Texas manufacturing in 2017, as the state recorded production levels not seen since before the recession.
Every month, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas surveys Texas manufacturing executives about market conditions. A key measure of the industry’s performance is the production index. Anything above zero means a majority of respondents saw growth, while anything below zero indicates respondents saw contraction.
December’s production index registered a reading of 32.8. That’s the highest production index since August 2006.
In the graph below, see what the best and worst five months of the past five years were in terms of the production index.
December was the exclamation point on a 2017 that saw an average production index of 19.5, the highest average since before the recession.
The state’s manufacturing sector has rebounded from the crash in the oil market that dragged down a big portion of the state’s manufacturing output a few years ago.
Here’s how 2017 compared with the last 13 years. The first full year the Dallas Fed compiled the manufacturing survey was 2005.
The production index wasn’t the only figure to see major increases. The new orders index, general business activity index and company outlook index posted 11-year highs. Regarding labor markets, the hours worked index reached a 12-year high.
By: Evan Hoopfer – Staff Writer, Dallas Business Journal
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