Capacity Utilization Rates

Capacity utilization is a comparison between an industry’s potential output and its actual output. The estimates are presented as rates calculated as actual output divided by the potential output. The estimates are derived by asking business respondents to indicate their capacity utilization relative to what they believe to be their potential, during the reference period. As such, the estimates reflect ‘sentiment’ indicators rather than point estimates where a value of actual output is compared to a point estimate of potential output.

The data are produced quarterly, for a selected set of industries. Consequently, a total economy wide measure of capacity utilization is not estimated.