Last Updated: July 17, 2026

Durable Goods Manufacturing Statistics 2026

Durable goods manufacturing is the part of the factory economy that moves first when buyers are confident and capital budgets are open. It covers machinery, fabricated metals, primary metals, computers, electronics, electrical equipment, motor vehicles, aerospace products, furniture, and other products built to last three years or more.

This report pulls current durable goods manufacturing statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, Federal Reserve, FRED, and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Use it to benchmark demand, production, backlog, labor, wages, and sales planning for industrial suppliers. Every figure links to the source that published the data.

1. Quick Durable Goods Manufacturing Stats

Durable goods are the long-life products that tend to require engineering, machining, fabrication, assembly, testing, and capital equipment. When durable goods orders rise, the demand signal often reaches machine shops, metal fabricators, automation suppliers, electronics manufacturers, industrial distributors, toolmakers, and component suppliers before it shows up in finished revenue.

2. Orders, Shipments, and Backlog

Orders tell you what buyers just placed. Shipments tell you what factories actually moved out the door. Unfilled orders tell you how much work is still booked. For industrial marketing and sales teams, the backlog number is often the most useful because it points to capacity pressure, supplier demand, replacement tooling, logistics needs, and follow-on service opportunities.

In May 2026, the Census Bureau said durable goods new orders fell $15.6 billion, or 4.5%, to $332.1 billion. The same release said April orders had increased 8.5%, which shows why one-month durable goods data needs context. A big transportation order can make one month look hot and the next month look weak.

The details were more mixed than the headline. Census reported that orders excluding transportation increased 1.3%, while orders excluding defense decreased 4.6%. Transportation equipment drove the decline, falling $18.5 billion, or 14.0%, to $113.5 billion.

A simple backlog-to-shipment check shows the weight of booked work. FRED reported $1.579544 trillion in unfilled durable goods orders and $328.030 billion in shipments for May 2026. That means unfilled orders were roughly 4.8 times monthly shipments. For suppliers, that ratio points to a market where many customers are still trying to turn backlog into output.

3. Industrial Production by Durable Goods Sector

The Federal Reserve's G.17 release gives a production-side view of the same economy. In May 2026, the Fed said manufacturing output was unchanged after a 0.7% April increase, while durable goods production rose 0.8%. The Fed also reported that wood products, nonmetallic mineral products, primary metals, and motor vehicles and parts each grew more than 1.0% during the month.

Capacity still had room. The Federal Reserve reported manufacturing capacity utilization at 75.7% in May 2026, which was 2.5 percentage points below its 1972 to 2025 long-run average. That gap matters. It suggests many durable goods producers are not physically maxed out, even when labor, parts, or customer mix still create bottlenecks.

4. Employment, Wages, and Hours

Durable goods manufacturing is labor-heavy even when the plant floor is automated. The BLS Current Employment Statistics program reported 7.840 million durable goods manufacturing jobs in June 2026. Production and nonsupervisory employment was 5.307 million, which means about two-thirds of durable goods jobs are still on the production side of the payroll.

Pay is also a useful benchmark. BLS reported $38.94 in average hourly earnings for durable goods manufacturing employees in June 2026. BLS also reported 42.0 average weekly hours for production and nonsupervisory durable goods employees. Multiplying those two figures gives an implied weekly earnings benchmark of about $1,635 before overtime mix and role differences.

5. Durable Goods Subsectors Compared

Durable goods is not one market. Fabricated metals responds to different buyers than computer and electronic products. Machinery is tied to capital spending. Motor vehicles and parts can swing with model cycles, credit, inventory, and fleet demand. Furniture has its own construction and consumer cycle. That is why sector-level employment and output matter more than the overall label.

Fabricated metal products was the largest employment category in the BLS durable goods group at 1.4526 million jobs in June 2026. Machinery followed at 1.0842 million jobs. Computer and electronic products had 995,100 jobs, while transportation equipment had 949,600 jobs.

6. How Manufacturers Should Use This Data

Durable goods statistics are useful because they connect demand, production, backlog, and labor into one picture. If new orders are soft but unfilled orders remain high, buyers may be cautious about new commitments while still needing suppliers to help clear existing work. If production rises but capacity utilization stays below its long-run average, the bottleneck may be labor, parts, scheduling, quoting, or a specific process instead of pure floor space.

For marketing, the most practical move is to tie content and outreach to the pressure point in the data. When shipments are rising, talk about delivery, scale, documentation, and quality. When backlogs are high, talk about reducing lead time, preventing rework, and making capacity visible. When wages and hours are elevated, talk about automation, training, safety, and fewer touches per job.

For sales, segment by subsector. Do not send the same message to a fabricated metal plant and an electronics manufacturer just because both sit under durable goods. Use the BLS employment table to understand where the labor base is concentrated, then use Federal Reserve production indexes to see where output is moving. That gives your team a cleaner reason to call than a generic check-in.

7. Capital Goods and Core Capex Signals

Capital goods deserve their own read inside the durable goods orders report. Capital goods are durable goods used to make other products or deliver services, so they work like a buyer confidence indicator. When a plant orders machinery, automation equipment, electrical equipment, industrial machinery, computers and electronic products, or other capital goods, it usually means management expects enough work to justify the investment.

The cleanest series for business investment is usually nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft. FRED, using U.S. Census Bureau economic data, reported $83.951 billion in manufacturers' new orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft in May 2026. This data series is watched because aircraft can make the chart jump, defense work can move differently from the private market, and equipment orders outside those categories tend to give a clearer read on business investment.

The broader nondefense capital goods number was lower after a sharp aircraft-driven month. FRED reported $96.065 billion in manufacturers' new orders for nondefense capital goods in May 2026, down from $114.066 billion in April 2026. Census described that move as a $17.9 billion, or 15.7%, decrease to $96.1 billion. That is the kind of volatile swing that makes analysts separate the headline from the underlying trend.

Shipments tell a slightly different story. FRED reported $81.383 billion in shipments of nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft in May 2026. Shipments matter because they feed economic estimates and show what actually left the factory, not just what orders placed with manufacturers suggest for future work. For a sales team, orders placed are pipeline signal. Shipments are current production reality.

8. How to Read the Durable Goods Chart Without Overreacting

Durable goods orders are one of the more volatile monthly manufacturing indicators. Aircraft, defense equipment orders, vehicle programs, and large machinery packages can make a one-month graph look stronger or weaker than the real trend. That is why economists and analysts usually look at several cuts of the same data: headline durable goods orders, excluding transportation, excluding defense, nondefense capital goods, and capital goods excluding aircraft.

The headline chart is still useful, but it should not be the only chart on the screen. Census reported a 4.5% decrease in May 2026 durable goods new orders, but the same release reported a 1.3% increase excluding transportation. Those two numbers can lead to different sales decisions. The first says headline demand cooled. The second says many non-transportation categories were still taking orders.

Inventory also matters, even when it is not the headline. If inventory rises faster than shipments, customers may slow new purchases until stock clears. If unfilled orders rise while shipments rise too, the factory may be producing well but not fast enough to eat through backlog. If prices rise at the same time, nominal new orders can look better than unit demand. The point is not to turn every salesperson into an economist. The point is to keep one noisy report from steering the whole quarter.

For industrial companies, the practical process is simple. Start with the Census Bureau release for the monthly estimate. Check FRED from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis for the graph, download, and historical data series. Then compare new orders, shipments, unfilled orders, industrial production, and BLS employment. If three or four indicators point the same direction, you have a stronger read. If they split, write your marketing and sales message around the specific pressure your buyer is likely feeling.

9. Practical Benchmarks by Buyer Situation

A buyer with a growing backlog usually wants reliability more than a clever pitch. The May 2026 unfilled orders figure of $1.579544 trillion is a reminder that many durable goods manufacturers are selling from a long work queue. For those buyers, the best message is about delivery performance, capacity windows, engineering response time, and fewer production surprises.

A buyer dealing with labor pressure needs a different message. BLS reported 5.307 million production and nonsupervisory durable goods manufacturing employees in June 2026, and those teams averaged 42.0 hours per week. That points to real shop-floor load. Automation vendors, tooling suppliers, contract manufacturers, and process consultants should connect their offer to reducing touches, shortening setup, preventing scrap, or keeping experienced people on higher-value work.

A buyer in electronics needs proof more than hype. FRED's industrial production index for computer and electronic products reached 138.0787 in May 2026, up 10.3% year over year. That kind of growth can create supplier qualification work, documentation pressure, component sourcing risk, appliance and electronic testing needs, and more demand for clean quoting.

A buyer in metals may care most about throughput and quote speed. FRED reported a 100.7260 primary metals production index in May 2026 and a 95.6681 fabricated metals production index. Both moved up during the month. If your company sells to these markets, talk about lead time, material handling, quoting accuracy, and rework reduction before you talk about broad economic growth.

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10. Data Caveats Before You Quote These Numbers

Durable goods statistics are useful, but they are not magic. The manufacturing sector is lumpy. One aircraft order, one semiconductor and other electronic component cycle, one vehicle program, or one defense contract can move a monthly report. That uncertainty is why this page separates headline orders from excluding transportation, excluding defense, and capital goods excluding aircraft.

Another caveat is timing. Census publishes an advance estimate, then may revise it as more manufacturer survey responses arrive. FRED makes the same economic data easier to graph and download through the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, but the underlying source can still revise prior months. If you cite the data in a board deck, quote the source, the month, and the retrieval date.

Finally, use year-over-year comparisons when you want trend, and month-to-month comparisons when you want current motion. A rebound after a weak month can look impressive without changing the long-term trend. A monthly decrease can look scary even while shipments and unfilled orders stay high. Durable goods manufacturing statistics work best when you read them as a group, not as a single headline.

11. Sources

This page uses government and Federal Reserve data so the figures can be checked, cited, and updated. The links below are the source pages used in the tables and analysis.

1. U.S. Census Bureau, Monthly Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories and Orders
2. U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Survey
3. FRED, Manufacturers' New Orders: Durable Goods
4. FRED, Manufacturers' Shipments: Durable Goods
5. FRED, Manufacturers' Unfilled Orders: Durable Goods
6. Federal Reserve, Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization G.17
7. FRED, Industrial Production: Durable Goods Manufacturing
8. BLS, Employment and Earnings Table B-3a
9. BLS, Table B-3 Average Hourly and Weekly Earnings
10. BLS, Table B-8 Production and Nonsupervisory Earnings and Hours
11. FRED, Manufacturers' New Orders: Nondefense Capital Goods Excluding Aircraft
12. FRED, Manufacturers' New Orders: Nondefense Capital Goods
13. FRED, Shipments: Nondefense Capital Goods Excluding Aircraft
14. FRED, Manufacturers' New Orders: Consumer Durable Goods

Frequently Asked Questions

What are durable goods in manufacturing?

Durable goods are manufactured products expected to last at least three years. In manufacturing, that usually includes machinery, fabricated metal products, computers, electronics, electrical equipment, appliances, vehicles, aerospace products, furniture, and similar hard goods. The category matters because these products often require longer sales cycles, more engineering, more capital equipment, and more supplier coordination than many nondurable goods.

Why do economists watch durable goods orders?

Durable goods orders are treated as a leading indicator because many orders are placed before production, shipments, hiring, and supplier purchases happen. If orders rise across several categories, it can point to stronger future factory activity. If orders weaken, buyers may be delaying capital spending or working through inventory. The signal is strongest when the headline order number agrees with shipments, unfilled orders, industrial production, and employment.

Why exclude transportation or aircraft from durable goods data?

Transportation and aircraft orders are large and uneven. A few aircraft orders can make one month look unusually strong, then the next month can look weak when those orders do not repeat. That is why analysts often review orders excluding transportation and nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft. Those cuts do not replace the headline number, but they can give a steadier view of the underlying manufacturing trend.

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