Federal Reserve Bank finds manufacturing in Oklahoma and other states is still low

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City released the May Manufacturing Survey that shows the manufacturing activity in the Tenth district, which includes Oklahoma continued to decline but not as sharply compared to last month’s record low.

Chad Wilkerson, vice president and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank said the survey also found that expectations for future activity rose in May, but remained slightly negative.

“Regional factory activity remained weak in May compared with a month ago and a year ago,” said Wilkerson. “Over 61% of firms reported losses in productivity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and 52% of survey contacts experienced ongoing supply chain disruptions.”

The survey found that compared to a record low index in April, things improved in May. The composite index is an average of the production, new orders, employment, supplier delivery time and raw materials inventory indexes.

The decrease in district manufacturing activity was driven by further drops at durable goods factories, especially primary metals, fabricated metals, and transportation plants.

On the other hand, activity at non-durable goods plants remained
more solid. All month-over-month indexes remained negative in May. Year-over-year factory indexes fell further in May.

Click here to view more about the survey.