Data Inquiries Media Inquiries

Economic Indicators Division, Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Branch (M3) Public Information Office

301-763-4832 301-763-3030

eid.m3.qs@census.gov pio@census.gov

FOR RELEASE AT 8:30 AM EDT, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

MONTHLY ADVANCE REPORT ON DURABLE GOODS MANUFACTURERS’ SHIPMENTS, 

INVENTORIES AND ORDERS AUGUST 2021

Release Number: CB 21-149 M3-1 (21)-08

Statement Regarding COVID-19 Impact: The Census Bureau continues to monitor response and data 

quality and has determined that estimates in this release meet publication standards. For more 

information, see < M3 COVID-19 FAQs>.

September 27, 2021 — The U.S. Census Bureau announces the August advance report on durable goods 

manufacturers’ shipments, inventories and orders:

New Orders

New orders for manufactured durable goods in August increased $4.6 billion or 1.8 percent to $263.5

billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This increase, up fifteen of the last sixteen months,

followed a 0.5 percent July increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.2 percent. 

Excluding defense, new orders increased 2.4 percent. Transportation equipment, up three of the last four 

months, led the increase, $4.2 billion or 5.5 percent to $80.8 billion.

DURABLE GOODS – NEW ORDERS

AUGUST 2021 $263.5 billion +1.8%°

JULY 2021

(revised) $258.9 billion +0.5%°

Next release: October 27, 2021

Data adjusted for seasonal variation but not for price changes.

°Statistical significance is not measurable for this survey. The Manufacturers' Shipments, 

Inventories, and Orders estimates are not based on a probability sample, so the sampling 

error of these estimates cannot be measured nor can the confidence intervals be computed.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders, September

27, 2021.

-2.0%

-1.0%

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

4.0%

Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21 Apr-21 May-21 Jun-21 Jul-21 Aug-21

DURABLE GOODS NEW ORDERS 2020-2021

Seasonally Adjusted, Month-To-Month Percentage Change

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders, September 27, 2021.
Data Inquiries Media Inquiries

Economic Indicators Division, Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Branch (M3) Public Information Office

301-763-4832 301-763-3030

eid.m3.qs@census.gov pio@census.gov

Shipments

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in August, down following three consecutive monthly 

increases, decreased $1.2 billion or 0.5 percent to $256.1 billion. This followed a 2.0 percent July increase. 

Transportation equipment, down following two consecutive monthly increases, drove the decrease, $2.0

billion or 2.7 percent to $73.5 billion.

Unfilled Orders

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in August, up seven consecutive months, increased $11.8

billion or 1.0 percent to $1,239.3 billion. This followed a 0.5 percent July increase. Transportation

equipment, up six of the last seven months, led the increase, $7.3 billion or 0.9 percent to $820.8 billion.

Inventories

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in August, up seven consecutive months, increased $3.4 billion 

or 0.8 percent to $457.9 billion. This followed a 0.8 percent July increase. Transportation equipment, also 

up seven consecutive months, led the increase, $1.3 billion or 0.8 percent to $153.4 billion. 

Capital Goods

Nondefense new orders for capital goods in August increased $7.4 billion or 9.0 percent to $89.9 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.2 billion or 0.3 percent to $79.4 billion. Unfilled orders increased $10.5 billion or 

1.4 percent to $754.9 billion. Inventories increased $0.9 billion or 0.4 percent to $201.2 billion. Defense 

new orders for capital goods in August decreased $1.0 billion or 8.3 percent to $11.4 billion. Shipments

decreased $0.3 billion or 2.3 percent to $12.4 billion. Unfilled orders decreased $0.9 billion or 0.5 percent 

to $187.7 billion. Inventories increased $0.2 billion or 0.8 percent to $21.0 billion.

Revised July Data

Revised seasonally adjusted July figures for all manufacturing industries were: new orders, $509.6 billion 

(revised from $508.1 billion); shipments, $508.0 billion (revised from $508.5 billion); unfilled orders, 

$1,227.5 billion (revised from $1,225.6 billion) and total inventories, $745.1 billion (revised from $744.4

billion).

Revised and more detailed estimates, plus nondurable goods data, will be published on October 4, 2021, at

10:00 a.m. EDT. The Advance Report on durable goods for September is scheduled for release on October

27, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. View the full schedule in the Economic Briefing Room:

<https://www.census.gov/economic-indicators/>. The full text and tables of this release can be found at

<www.census.gov/m3>.
Data Inquiries Media Inquiries

Economic Indicators Division, Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Branch (M3) Public Information Office

301-763-4832 301-763-3030

eid.m3.qs@census.gov pio@census.gov

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Figures in text are adjusted for seasonality, but not for inflation. Figures on new and unfilled orders 

exclude data for semiconductor manufacturing. 

“Virtually unchanged” indicates that the change is less than 0.05 percent for a percent increase or 

decrease.

Description of the survey

This report is compiled from results of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, 

and Orders (M3) survey, which is a voluntary survey authorized by Title 13 of the United States Code. This 

survey provides statistics on a calendar-month basis for manufacturers' value of shipments, new orders 

(net of cancellations), end-of-month order backlog (unfilled orders), end-of-month total inventory (at 

current cost or market value), and inventories by stage of fabrication (materials and supplies, work-inprocess, and finished goods). Data published from the M3 survey are based on a panel of approximately 

5,000 reporting units that represent approximately 3,100 companies and provide an indication of monthto-month change for the Manufacturing Sector. These reporting units may be divisions of diversified large 

companies, large homogenous companies, or single-unit manufacturers in 92 industry categories, which 

are combined into 65 publication levels due to the small monthly panel size. The survey methodology 

assumes that the month-to-month changes of the total operations of the reporting units in the M3 panel 

effectively represent the month-to-month movements of all establishments that make up the category. 

The companies for which shipments data are currently reported or imputed in the M3 survey represent 

approximately 60 percent of the total value of shipments for manufacturing establishments in the 2017

Economic Census, and these companies include roughly 61 percent of the manufacturing companies with 

$500 million or more in shipments in the 2017 Economic Census. The companies for which shipments data 

are currently reported in the M3 survey represent approximately 51 percent of the total value of 

shipments for manufacturing establishments in the 2017 Economic Census. Statistics based on the M3 

panel differ from the results that would be obtained from a complete enumeration of all manufacturing 

companies. The M3 panel is not based on a probability sample; therefore, the sampling errors that are 

normally provided with sample surveys cannot be measured. Nonsampling errors are attributable to many 

sources. The use of company or divisional reports to estimate the monthly change for establishments is 

one source of nonsampling error. The use of primarily large companies to represent the month-to-month 

movement of all companies is another potential source. Any corrections will be published in the full 

report. Corrections received after the full report will be released in the next month’s advance report. Any 

revisions made later than two months will be reflected in the annual benchmark publication. Additional 
Data Inquiries Media Inquiries

Economic Indicators Division, Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Branch (M3) Public Information Office

301-763-4832 301-763-3030

eid.m3.qs@census.gov pio@census.gov

survey documentation can be found on our web site: 

<www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>.

Special Notice - New Advance Estimates Of Total Manufacturing

Beginning with the release of September 2021 data on October 27, 2021, advance estimates of total 

manufacturing, including M3 durable and nondurable industries, for shipments and inventories, will be 

available at the same time as the Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, 

Inventories and Orders. Monthly advance total manufacturing estimates will be available on a seasonally 

adjusted basis as well as a not seasonally adjusted basis on the M3 website under the “Advance Report 

Highlights”. For more information, please see: monthly data example <tabletm_ex.xlsx>. 

RESOURCES

API

The Census Bureau’s application programming interface (API) lets developers create custom apps to reach 

new users and makes key demographic, socio-economic and housing statistics more accessible than ever 

before.

<www.census.gov/developers/>

FRED Mobile App

Receive the latest updates on the nation’s key economic indicators by downloading 

the FRED App <https://fred.stlouisfed.org/fred-mobile/> for both Apple and 

Android devices. FRED, the signature database of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. 

Louis, now incorporates the Census Bureau’s 13 economic indicators.

###
Table 1.  Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments and New Orders 1

[Estimates are shown in millions of dollars and are based on data from the Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Survey.]

Seasonally Adjusted Not Seasonally Adjusted

Monthly Percent Change Monthly Year to Date

Item           Percent

Aug Jul Jun Jul ‐ Jun ‐ May ‐ Aug Jul Aug Change

2021 2 2021 r 2021 Aug 2 Jul r Jun 2021 2 2021 r 2020 2021 2020 2021/2020

DURABLE GOODS

   Total:               

               Shipments................................ 256,109 257,317 252,208 ‐0.5 2.0 1.6 263,561 242,557 238,136 1,988,451 1,742,636 14.1

               New Orders4

.............................. 263,490 258,851 257,663 1.8 0.5 0.8 264,958 240,428 219,612 2,015,219 1,615,650 24.7

         Excluding transportation:

               Shipments................................ 182,581 181,748 179,635 0.5 1.2 1.2 187,915 176,600 163,229 1,409,732 1,235,901 14.1

               New Orders4

.............................. 182,651 182,233 180,734 0.2 0.8 0.6 184,146 175,331 156,964 1,422,338 1,208,941 17.7

         Excluding defense:

               Shipments................................ 241,820 242,735 238,376 ‐0.4 1.8 1.6 249,711 229,334 225,472 1,880,701 1,641,979 14.5

               New Orders4

.............................. 250,610 244,795 245,971 2.4 ‐0.5 1.0 254,856 229,687 208,222 1,913,436 1,511,342 26.6

    Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

               Shipments................................ 180,620 180,265 177,059 0.2 1.8 1.7 184,583 169,697 160,371 1,387,241 1,232,087 12.6

               New Orders.............................. 192,426 186,231 186,999 3.3 ‐0.4 0.6 190,732 172,044 146,364 1,447,839 1,136,549 27.4

    Primary metals:

               Shipments................................ 23,887 23,912 23,234 ‐0.1 2.9 3.7 24,536 23,227 18,485 180,303 145,747 23.7

               New Orders.............................. 24,077 24,436 24,033 ‐1.5 1.7 0.9 23,954 23,695 18,497 185,950 145,307 28.0

    Fabricated metal products:

               Shipments................................ 35,044 34,740 33,823 0.9 2.7 1.3 36,965 33,811 30,962 269,033 235,341 14.3

               New Orders.............................. 36,488 35,763 35,446 2.0 0.9 ‐1.2 37,944 34,407 30,968 288,339 236,200 22.1

    Machinery:

               Shipments................................ 36,552 36,141 35,698 1.1 1.2 1.4 36,663 34,705 31,501 280,806 246,547 13.9

               New Orders.............................. 38,053 38,522 37,393 ‐1.2 3.0 2.1 37,329 37,139 30,856 293,607 248,258 18.3

    Computers and electronic products 4

:

               Shipments................................ 28,985 28,905 28,863 0.3 0.1 ‐0.1 29,085 26,987 27,989 223,006 208,374 7.0

               New Orders.............................. 25,303 24,945 24,973 1.4 ‐0.1 0.8 24,084 22,309 22,607 191,369 177,478 7.8

         Computers and related products:

               Shipments................................ 2,001 2,008 1,998 ‐0.3 0.5 ‐2.2 1,948 1,803 1,813 15,183 13,451 12.9

               New Orders.............................. 1,973 2,022 1,992 ‐2.4 1.5 ‐1.1 1,920 1,817 1,799 15,126 13,314 13.6

         Communications equipment:

               Shipments................................ 3,472 3,455 3,451 0.5 0.1 1.0 3,154 2,951 3,081 25,995 23,628 10.0

               New Orders.............................. 3,707 3,665 3,808 1.1 ‐3.8 6.2 3,280 3,102 3,059 27,126 23,811 13.9

    Electrical equipment, appliances,    

       and components:                   

               Shipments................................ 12,581 12,633 12,438 ‐0.4 1.6 1.3 13,144 12,289 11,188 97,501 85,611 13.9

               New Orders.............................. 13,021 12,856 12,981 1.3 ‐1.0 0.2 13,472 12,120 11,150 101,648 86,832 17.1

    Transportation equipment:    

               Shipments................................ 73,528 75,569 72,573 ‐2.7 4.1 2.5 75,646 65,957 74,907 578,719 506,735 14.2

               New Orders.............................. 80,839 76,618 76,929 5.5 ‐0.4 1.4 80,812 65,097 62,648 592,881 406,709 45.8

         Motor vehicles and parts:

               Shipments................................ 51,540 52,954 50,265 ‐2.7 5.3 1.3 54,992 46,307 56,676 412,175 352,627 16.9

               New Orders.............................. 51,870 53,549 50,871 ‐3.1 5.3 1.8 55,461 46,517 56,951 414,739 352,509 17.7

         Nondefense aircraft and parts 5

:

               Shipments................................ 7,789 8,043 8,558 ‐3.2 ‐6.0 13.8 6,705 6,703 5,588 58,630 54,006 8.6

               New Orders.............................. 16,327 9,177 14,417 77.9 ‐36.3 4.7 15,013 7,919 ‐5,860 76,264 ‐49,903 (NA)

         Defense aircraft and parts:

               Shipments................................ 4,556 4,534 4,303 0.5 5.4 ‐2.7 4,523 4,173 4,613 34,880 36,159 ‐3.5

               New Orders.............................. 2,842 3,459 3,592 ‐17.8 ‐3.7 12.5 2,535 3,009 3,715 30,178 35,356 ‐14.6

    All other durable goods:           

               Shipments................................ 45,532 45,417 45,579 0.3 ‐0.4 0.7 47,522 45,581 43,104 359,083 314,281 14.3

               New Orders.............................. 45,709 45,711 45,908 0.0 ‐0.4 0.7 47,363 45,661 42,886 361,425 314,866 14.8

    Capital goods3

:

               Shipments................................ 91,745 91,818 91,050 ‐0.1 0.8 1.7 90,001 85,293 79,697 703,667 620,217 13.5

               New Orders.............................. 101,342 94,943 97,981 6.7 ‐3.1 1.3 96,081 85,830 67,195 737,404 527,280 39.9

           Nondefense capital goods:

               Shipments................................ 79,393 79,174 79,109 0.3 0.1 1.8 78,082 73,881 68,961 610,777 534,959 14.2

               New Orders.............................. 89,937 82,509 87,644 9.0 ‐5.9 1.6 87,088 76,682 57,108 647,426 435,780 48.6

                Excluding aircraft:

                    Shipments........................... 74,877 74,381 73,732 0.7 0.9 0.6 74,567 70,275 65,965 576,319 506,009 13.9

                    New Orders.......................... 77,082 76,729 76,530 0.5 0.3 1.0 75,101 71,778 64,878 594,810 510,985 16.4

           Defense capital goods:

               Shipments................................ 12,352 12,644 11,941 ‐2.3 5.9 1.1 11,919 11,412 10,736 92,890 85,258 9.0

               New Orders.............................. 11,405 12,434 10,337 ‐8.3 20.3 ‐1.4 8,993 9,148 10,087 89,978 91,500 ‐1.7

r Revised data due to late receipts and concurrent seasonal adjustment.     

1 Estimates of shipments and new orders are for the duration of the period, while estimates of unfilled orders and total inventories are for the end of the period. Not seasonally adjusted estimates of    

shipments and new orders include adjusted data for non‐calendar reporters. Seasonally adjusted estimates include concurrent adjustments for holiday and trading‐day differences, where appropriate,  

as well as seasonal variation, based on the results of the latest annual review of the model parameters. Estimates are not adjusted for price changes.         2 Based on advance sample. Estimates of manufacturers' shipments, inventories, and orders are subject to survey error and revision. One major component of survey error is nonsampling error, which includes errors of coverage, response and

nonreporting. Since the survey panel is not a probability sample, estimates of sampling error cannot be calculated. For further details on survey design, methodology, and data limitations, see http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3.      3 The Capital Goods Industries include Nondefense : small arms and ordnance; farm machinery and equipment; construction machinery; mining, oil, and gas field machinery; industrial machinery; vending, laundry, and other machinery; photographic

equipment; metalworking machinery; turbines and generators; other power transmission equipment; pumps and compressors; material handling equipment; all other machinery; electronic computers; computer storage devices; other computer

peripheral equipment; communications equipment; search and navigation equipment; electromedical, measuring, and  control instruments; electrical equipment; other electrical equipment, appliances, and components; heavy duty trucks; aircraft;

railroad rolling stock; ships and boats; office and institutional furniture; and medical equipment and supplies. Defense Capital Goods include : small arms and ordnance, communications equipment, aircraft; missiles, space vehicles, and parts, ships and

boats, and search and navigation equipment.    4 Estimates and percent changes of shipments and inventories for the semiconductor industry are included in computers and electronic products, and all other applicable aggregate totals.  Estimates and percent changes for new orders and unfilled

orders exclude semiconductor industry data.   5 (NA) ‐ New Orders year‐to‐date percent change is not provided for Nondefense aircraft and parts because the denominator has a negative value.  

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey, August Advance Report, September 27, 2021. Information on data sources and methodology can be found on our website at

<www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>.  
Table 2.  Durable Goods Manufacturers' Unfilled Orders and Total Inventories 1

[Estimates are shown in millions of dollars and are based on data from the Manufacturers' Shipments,  Inventories,  and Orders Survey.]

Seasonally Adjusted Not Seasonally Adjusted

Monthly Percent Change Monthly Percent

Item           Change

Aug Jul Jun Jul ‐ Jun ‐ May ‐ Aug Jul Aug 2021/

2021 2 2021 r 2021 Aug 2 Jul r Jun 2021 2 2021 r 2020 2020

DURABLE GOODS

   Total:                   

               Unfilled Orders 4......................... 1,239,334 1,227,528 1,221,562 1.0 0.5 0.8 1,235,209 1,229,060 1,187,328 4.0

               Total Inventories....................... 457,853 454,437 450,967 0.8 0.8 0.9 461,543 457,710 430,407 7.2

         Excluding transportation:

               Unfilled Orders 4......................... 418,488 413,993 409,076 1.1 1.2 1.4 417,161 416,178 361,678 15.3

               Total Inventories....................... 304,408 302,264 299,483 0.7 0.9 1.0 306,534 304,536 282,937 8.3

         Excluding defense:

               Unfilled Orders 4

........................... 1,027,593 1,014,378 1,007,886 1.3 0.6 1.2 1,024,625 1,014,728 967,171 5.9

               Total Inventories....................... 433,093 429,839 426,607 0.8 0.8 1.0 436,683 433,070 406,105 7.5

    Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 1,239,334 1,227,528 1,221,562 1.0 0.5 0.8 1,235,209 1,229,060 1,187,328 4.0

               Total Inventories....................... 368,817 366,623 364,076 0.6 0.7 1.0 371,959 369,819 350,178 6.2

    Primary metals:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 41,026 40,836 40,312 0.5 1.3 2.0 40,354 40,936 31,396 28.5

               Total Inventories....................... 40,479 40,015 39,292 1.2 1.8 1.7 40,678 40,328 34,026 19.5

    Fabricated metal products:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 102,658 101,214 100,191 1.4 1.0 1.6 103,667 102,688 82,462 25.7

               Total Inventories....................... 59,098 58,415 57,716 1.2 1.2 1.3 59,239 59,201 52,524 12.8

    Machinery:     

               Unfilled Orders......................... 110,829 109,328 106,947 1.4 2.2 1.6 110,237 109,571 95,454 15.5

               Total Inventories....................... 73,787 73,116 72,468 0.9 0.9 0.6 74,561 73,250 69,869 6.7

    Computers and electronic products4

:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 120,962 120,219 119,747 0.6 0.4 0.5 119,932 120,181 116,062 3.3

               Total Inventories....................... 46,890 46,871 46,838 0.0 0.1 0.7 47,452 47,444 47,173 0.6

         Computers and related products:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 1,488 1,516 1,502 ‐1.8 0.9 ‐0.4 1,488 1,516 1,450 2.6

               Total Inventories....................... 3,711 3,659 3,670 1.4 ‐0.3 ‐0.2 3,887 3,782 3,576 8.7

         Communications equipment:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 19,736 19,501 19,291 1.2 1.1 1.9 19,613 19,487 18,097 8.4

               Total Inventories....................... 5,060 5,166 5,149 ‐2.1 0.3 1.1 5,241 5,193 5,251 ‐0.2

    Electrical equipment, appliances,    

        and components:                   

               Unfilled Orders......................... 30,705 30,265 30,042 1.5 0.7 1.8 30,751 30,423 25,870 18.9

               Total Inventories....................... 20,857 20,771 20,548 0.4 1.1 0.7 21,130 21,193 19,965 5.8

    Transportation equipment:    

               Unfilled Orders......................... 820,846 813,535 812,486 0.9 0.1 0.5 818,048 812,882 825,650 ‐0.9

               Total Inventories....................... 153,445 152,173 151,484 0.8 0.5 0.9 155,009 153,174 147,470 5.1

         Motor vehicles and parts:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 28,074 27,744 27,149 1.2 2.2 2.3 27,411 26,942 23,430 17.0

               Total Inventories....................... 49,223 48,084 47,265 2.4 1.7 1.9 49,824 48,681 40,508 23.0

         Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 597,580 589,042 587,908 1.4 0.2 1.0 596,394 588,086 597,583 ‐0.2

               Total Inventories....................... 76,452 76,371 76,756 0.1 ‐0.5 0.7 77,125 76,520 80,022 ‐3.6

         Defense Aircraft and parts:       

               Unfilled Orders......................... 79,362 81,076 82,151 ‐2.1 ‐1.3 ‐0.9 79,279 81,267 87,609 ‐9.5

               Total Inventories....................... 12,461 12,388 12,354 0.6 0.3 0.0 12,505 12,423 12,293 1.7

    All other durable goods:           

               Unfilled Orders......................... 12,308 12,131 11,837 1.5 2.5 2.9 12,220 12,379 10,434 17.1

               Total Inventories....................... 63,297 63,076 62,621 0.4 0.7 1.0 63,474 63,120 59,380 6.9

    Capital goods3

:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 942,669 933,072 929,947 1.0 0.3 0.8 940,190 934,110 924,313 1.7

               Total Inventories....................... 222,264 221,231 220,220 0.5 0.5 0.6 225,010 222,880 219,351 2.6

           Nondefense capital goods:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 754,942 744,398 741,063 1.4 0.5 1.2 753,374 744,368 732,220 2.9

               Total Inventories....................... 201,216 200,350 199,582 0.4 0.4 0.8 203,906 201,992 198,776 2.6

                Excluding aircraft:               

                    Unfilled Orders.................... 233,435 231,230 228,882 1.0 1.0 1.2 232,401 231,867 211,058 10.1

                    Total Inventories................... 134,980 134,270 133,240 0.5 0.8 0.5 136,953 135,593 129,754 5.5

           Defense capital goods:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 187,727 188,674 188,884 ‐0.5 ‐0.1 ‐0.8 186,816 189,742 192,093 ‐2.7

               Total Inventories....................... 21,048 20,881 20,638 0.8 1.2 ‐0.9 21,104 20,888 20,575 2.6

r  Revised data due to late receipts and concurrent seasonal adjustment.      1 Estimates of shipments and new orders are for the duration of the period, while estimates of unfilled orders and total inventories are for the end of the period. Not seasonally adjusted estimates of shipments and

new orders include adjusted data for non‐calendar reporters. Seasonally adjusted estimates include concurrent adjustments for holiday and trading‐day differences, where appropriate, as well as seasonal variation,

based on the results of the latest annual review of the model parameters. Estimates are not adjusted for price changes.         2 Based on advance sample. Estimates of manufacturers' shipments, inventories, and orders are subject to survey error and revision. One major component of survey error is nonsampling error, which includes errors

of coverage, response and nonreporting. Since the survey panel is not a probability sample, estimates of sampling error cannot be calculated. For further details on survey design, methodology, and data limitations,

see http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3.      3 The Capital Goods Industries include Nondefense : small arms and ordnance; farm machinery and equipment; construction machinery; mining, oil, and gas field machinery; industrial machinery; vending, laundry,

and other machinery; photographic equipment; metalworking machinery; turbines and generators; other power transmission equipment; pumps and compressors; material handling equipment; all other machinery;

electronic computers; computer storage devices; other computer peripheral equipment; communications equipment; search and navigation equipment; electromedical, measuring, and  control instruments;

electrical equipment; other electrical equipment, appliances, and components; heavy duty trucks; aircraft; railroad rolling stock; ships and boats; office and institutional furniture; and medical equipment and

supplies. Defense Capital Goods include : small arms and ordnance, communications equipment, aircraft; missiles, space vehicles, and parts, ships and boats, and search and navigation equipment.    4 Estimates and percent changes of shipments and inventories for the semiconductor industry are included in computers and electronic products, and all other applicable aggregate totals.  Estimates and percent

changes for new orders and unfilled orders exclude semiconductor industry data.   

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey, August Advance Report, September 27, 2021. Information on data sources and methodology can be found on our website

at <www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>.