MARCH 1934 SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE WASHINGTON VOLUME 14 NUMBER 3 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis PRESERVE THIS ISSUE Owing to the lack of printing funds, it is not possible to publish the 1934 ANNUAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE SURVEY OF CUR- RENT BUSINESS. Every effort has been made to complete the 1933 statistics with this issue, but, in a few instances, December data are still lacking. If you do not keep a complete file of the SURVEY, it is suggested that the missing figures be posted in this copy as soon as they are avail- able. Thus, this number will afford a convenient source of reference for the year 1933, and, together with the March 1933 issue and the 1932 ANNUAL SUPPLEMENT, will afford a complete record of all series, excepting the new series that have been added and those that have been revised since the publication of the last annual supple- ment. For a complete file of the new and revised series, it is neces- sary to have the special tables which have been presented in the issues starting with September 1932. Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Volume 14 MARCH 1934 Number 3 WEEKLY DATA THROUGH MARCH 3, 1934 MONTHLY DATA THROUGH JANUARY SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS PUBLISHED BY UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE WASHINGTON CONTENTS SUMMARIES AND CHARTS STATISTICAL DATA—Continued Page Business indicators 2 Monthly business statistics—Continued Page Business situation summarized 3 Construction and real estate 24 Comparison of principal data, 1930-34 4 Domestic trade 25 Commodity prices 5 Employment conditions and wages 27 Domestic trade 6 Finance 30 Employment 7 Foreign trade 34 Finance 8 Transportation and communications 35 Foreign trade 9 Statistics on individual industries: Real estate and construction 10 Chemicals and allied products 36 Transportation 11 Electric power and gas 38 Survey of individual industries: Foodstuffs and tobacco 39 Automobiles and rubber 12 Fuels and byproducts 42 Chemical industries 13 Leather and products 44 Forest products 14 Lumber and manufactures 44 Iron and steel 15 Metal and manufactures: Textiles 16 Iron and steel 45 Machinery and apparatus 47 SPECIAL ARTICLE Nonferrous metals and products 48 Paper and printing 49 New Index of Variety Store Salas 17 Rubber and products 51 STATISTICAL DATA Stone, clay, and glass products 52 Textile products 52 Weekly business statistics 21 Transportation equipment 54 Monthly business statistics: Canadian statistics 55 Business indexes 22 Index of revisions made in December 1933 issue 56 Commodity prices 23 General index Inside back cover Subscription price of the SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS is 31.50 a year, which includes the 12 monthly numbers, the 1932 annual supplement, and the 52 weekly supplements. 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Postage stamps or foreign money not accepted 41683—34 1 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS March 1934 Business Indicators 1923-25=100 INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION 160 160 100 100 s*TOTAL^ l(ADJUSTED. 4 40 FACTORY EMPLOYMENT AND PAYROLLS CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS AWARDED 160 200 100 "PAYROLLS (UNADJUSTED) 100 - EMPLOYMENT ADJUSTED)* 40 TOTAL FREIGHT CAR LOADINGS FREIGHT CAR LOADINGS L.C.L 160 100 40 40 DEPARTMENT STORE SALES WHOLESALE PRICES ZOO 160 100 100 'FARM PRODUCTS 40 VALUE OF EXPORTS VALUE OF IMPORTS 200 200 100 -ADJUSTED BANK DEBITS OUTSIDE NEW YORK CITY FEDERAL RESERVE MEMBER BANK LOANS" 200 160 100 40 1930 Digitized for FRASER 9ADJUSTED FOR SEASONAL VARIATION * REPORT/KG MEMBER BANKS http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis March 1934 SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS Business Situation Summarized USINESS conditions improved moderately during Lumber production increased slightly, and the upward B January, and the weekly statistics reveal further movement continued in February. gains in February. The expansion in industrial pro- Employment arid pay rolls declined between mid- duction has been greater than the usual seasonal rise December and mid-January, mainly as a result of large for this period, and the statistics of carloadings also seasonal declines in the nonmanufacturing industries. show a favorable trend in primary distribution. The change in factory employment was in accord Retail sales data indicate a decline in January of about with the seasonal trend, while the slight drop in factory the usual proportions, following the greater-than- pay rolls was less than the usual decline in this interval. seasonal increase of December. Construction con- Preliminary February data indicate an improvement tracts awarded have tended to lag since December, in private employment and pay rolls in that month. and the seasonally adjusted index has declined follow- Commodity prices have tended upward in recent ing the rapid rise in the last 4 months of 1933. weeks, and the wholesale commodity price index was Foreign trade statistics reveal a decrease in exports nearly 5 percent higher in the week ended February 17, in January and a rise in imports. than in the third week of December. Retail prices and Increasing output in most of the major manufactur- the cost of living also advanced in January ing industries, and the larger production of coal, Financial markets during February were featured by resulted in an advance of 3 points in the adjusted the heavy inflow of gold from abroad following the index of industrial production in January to 78 per- official devaluation of the dollar to 59.06 percent of cent of the 1923-25 average. Production was sub- its former gold content. As a result of this movement, stantially higher than in 1933 and was 7 percent above excess reserves of the member banks have exceeded a 1932. Iron and steel output increased very slightly billion dollars, a record total. Government expendi- in January, but a fairly rapid rise in operations was tures during the month were very large, a considerable reported in February. Textile mill activity improved portion of the funds being devoted to direct relief, and following the December drop, although some branches to employment relief through the C.W.A. Bond of the industry were still working on curtailed sched- prices have continued to move higher, while the move- ules. Despite the mechanical difficulties experienced ment of stock prices was irregular with declines pre- in the industry, the adjusted index of automobile dominating in the latter part of February. The new production moved sharply higher. Other relatively capital market has continued inactive and flotations, large increases were reported for food products, aside from Government loans, have made an insig- tobacco manufactures, and cement production. nificant total. MONTHLY BUSINESS INDEXES 4 Factory em- Department Foreign l w i Industrial production ployment Freight-car loadings store sales, trade, value, al , 78 d and pay rolls value adjusted 2 , Ne e >»i Merchan- s Unadjusted 1 Adjusted a ® « Total dise, I.c.I. y Index adjuste ft-d e , S3 contracts outsid Cit ft* n P s •o k 3 £3 o» 1 pric Year and month e so value j» % •d , commoditie a 2a> ?e« 3 3 5 Yor en 1VJ 5 1 debit •5* k c 13 i jf 3 rt J3 1 3 C I types e8 1 l I c Constructio Wholesal & I § V < 0 f -U I Ban i * ^ 1 Monthly Monthly average, 1923-25=100 average, 1926=100 1930' January 103 102 108 106 i 105 110 95. 6 94.4 ! 89 100 94 101 88 107 106 95 130.2 95 92.5 1931: January _ 82 81 87 84 83 89 78. 3 68.4 74 82 83 90 81 99 64 56 110.0 71 78.2 1932: January _ _ _ _ 71 70 74 72 71 77 68. 1 52.4 58 64 75 81 64 78 39 42 80.6 31 67. 3 December 60 58 73 66 64 77 60.6 40.9 52 58 64 69 106 60 33 30 65.0 28 62.6 1933: January. _ _ 64 63 71 65 64 73 59.4 39.2 51 56 65 69 49 60 31 29 61.1 22 61.0 February 64 63 76 63 61 79 59.4 40.0 51 54 64 66 49 60 29 26 52.7 19 59.8 March 60 58 74 60 56 81 56.6 36.9 48 50 63 62 50 57 28 26 48.7 14 60.2 April 67 68 65 66 66 72 57.7 38.6 51 53 65 63 68 67 29 25 53.8 14 60.4 May 80 80 76 78 78 78 60.6 42.0 56 56 68 66 67 67 32 32 58.3 16 62.7 June - 91 93 82 92 93 84 64.8 46.2 60 60 67 67 64 68 36 40 65.7 18 65.0 July 96 97 89 100 101 90 70.1 49.9 66 65 70 70 49 70 43 48 70.4 21 68.9 August 90 89 94 91 91 91 73.3 55.7 65 61 69 69 59 77 38 50 62.7 24 69.5 September 85 84 93 84 83 87 74.3 57.6 68 60 70 68 73 70 40 48 61.9 30 70.8 October 78 77 88 77 76 81 73.9 57.4 66 58 70 66 77 70 42 46 66.0 37 71.2 November „ 72 70 84 73 71 81 72.4 53.6 61 60 68 67 75 65 42 40 60.5 48 71.1 December 69 67 80 75 73 85 71.8 53.1 55 62 63 67 121 69 48 42 67.4 58 70.8 1934: January 76 75 85 78 76 87 71.8 52.9 58 64 65 70 57 69 44 42 66.9 51 72.2 Digitized for FRASER i Adjusted for number of working days.