Industrial output declines 0.6%

Industrial output fell slightly less than expected in November as manufacturers continued to suffer from weakness in autos and many other areas that is not expected to ease any time soon.

The Federal Reserve reported Monday that industrial activity dropped 0.6% in November. Economists expected a decline of 0.8%.

The manufacturing sector is suffering like the rest of the economy from the deepening recession, which has cut consumer demand for many products.

“Manufacturing production tanked in November and the data were even worse than they look,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors. “The only industry that posted a gain was aircraft, and that was only because Boeing started back up after the strike.”

The 0.6% drop followed a revised 1.5% increase in October. However, that gain occurred after a 4.1% plunge in September, which represented the biggest one-month drop since a 5% decline in February 1946.

For November, manufacturing output was down 1.4%, reflecting a 2.8% decline in production at auto plants, the third drop in the last four months. Production fell a huge 11% in August and 3.6% in October.

Output at aerospace factories, the category that includes airplane manufacturer Boeing Co., jumped 12.8% in November after three straight months of declines.

A strike halted production at Boeing’s commercial airplane factories for eight weeks before the machinists union accepted a four-year contract and began returning to work Nov. 2. The strike cut Boeing’s revenue by more than $100 million a day and forced subcontractors worldwide to lay off workers.

Output at the nation’s mines, a category that includes oil and gas production, increased 2.5% in November following a 7.2% rise in October. The October gain followed a 9.5% plunge in September as production along the Gulf Coast was disrupted by the September hurricanes.

Production at the nation’s utilities rose 1.6% in November following a 0.7% increase in October.