Industrial production index under Ronald Reagan

Real output of factories, mines, and utilities — the physical, goods-producing part of the economy.

Over 1981-01-20 to 1989-01-19, measured in Index 2017=100:

Term average

54.25 Index 2017=100

At the start

50.92 Index 2017=100

At the end

62.04 Index 2017=100

Change

+11.12 Index 2017=100

Low

46.95 Index 2017=100 (1982-12-01)

High

62.26 Index 2017=100 (1989-01-01)

Coverage

100% (96 observations)

Reading this series over a presidential term

Sharper peaks and deeper troughs than GDP: manufacturing leads and lags the cycle more violently than services do. Compare by percent change. A cold winter lifts the utilities component without anything else changing.

It excludes services and construction, which are most of the economy and most of the jobs. A falling share of output in these sectors is a long-running structural shift, not a verdict on any term.

These are the observed values over the window above, and nothing more. This site does not say which direction is better, and none of this is a claim that Ronald Reagan caused the number to move.

What Industrial production index measures · Ronald Reagan: the whole record · Chart it · Compare with another president · The source at FRED