For immediate release
Contact: Joey Lee, Media Relations, 215-574-3840
Philadelphia — In January of each year, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia revises historical data for the Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey after calculating new seasonal adjustment factors. Because survey responses are characterized by seasonal patterns, new seasonal factors are calculated annually based on the addition of a complete year of data.
While this year’s revisions altered levels of the indexes for most months, the general pattern of month-to-month change in most series was similar. The current general activity index was revised upward over the first four months of 2018 and revised downward over the last four months. For December 2018, the index was revised slightly, from 9.4 to 9.1.
Revised historical data for all series can be retrieved from the historical data page.
A summary of 2018 revisions only (78 KB) is also available.
The next scheduled release of the Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey is at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 17, 2019.