Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, & Orders (M3) Survey

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 213 (Thursday, November 5, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 213 (Thursday, November 5, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69790-69791]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-22541]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, & Orders (M3) Survey

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and 
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of 
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on 7/20/2026 during a 60-day comment period. This 
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau, Commerce.
    Title: Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, & Orders (M3) Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0008.
    Form Number(s): M-3(SD).
    Type of Request: Regular submission, Request for an Extension, 
without Change, of a Currently Approved Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 5,000 (12 responses per respondent).
    Average Hours per Response: 20 Minutes.
    Burden Hours: 20,000.
    Needs and Uses: The M3 survey is designed to measure current 
industrial activity and to provide an indication of future production 
commitments. Shipments, new and unfilled orders, and inventories data 
provide a current statistical measurement of the domestic manufacturing 
sector in the U.S. economy. The value of shipments measures the value 
of goods delivered during the month by domestic manufacturers. 
Estimates of new orders serve as an indicator of future production 
commitments and represent the current sales value of new orders 
received during the month, net of cancellations. Substantial 
accumulation or depletion of unfilled orders measures excess (or 
deficient) demand for manufactured products. The level of inventory, 
especially in relation to shipments, is frequently used to monitor the 
business cycle. Manufacturing is a vital sector to the U.S. economy 
contributing to job creation, innovation, and national security.
    The M3 survey provides an essential component of the current 
economic indicators needed for assessing the evolving status of the 
economy and formulating economic policy. The Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has 
designated this survey as a principal federal economic indicator. The 
shipments and inventories data are essential inputs of the Gross 
Domestic Product (GDP). The orders data are direct inputs to The 
Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI), which is a composite 
index of ten key elements designed to monitor the business cycle. The 
GDP and the LEI would be incomplete without these data. Orders for 
durable goods are an important leading economic indicator. Businesses 
and consumers generally place orders for durable goods when they are 
confident the economy is improving. A durable goods report showing an 
increase in orders is a sign that the economy is trending upwards. 
Durable goods orders tell investors what to expect from the 
manufacturing sector, a major component of the economy. The M3 survey 
also provides valuable and timely domestic manufacturing data for 
economic planning and analysis to business firms, trade associations, 
research and consulting agencies, and academia.
    Shipments, new and unfilled orders, and inventories estimates are 
used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Council of Economic 
Advisers (CEA), Federal Reserve Board (FRB), Bureau of Labor Statistics 
(BLS), The Conference Board, and other government agencies, as well as 
business users in formulating economic decisions.
    BEA is the primary Federal user of data collected in the M3 survey. 
BEA

[[Page 69791]]

uses shipments, inventories, and inventories-to-shipments ratio 
estimates from the M3 survey to prepare the national income and product 
accounts (NIPA). Shipments data contribute to annual and quarterly GDP, 
the annual input-output (I-O) accounts, quarterly GDP by industry 
statistics, and quarterly gross operating surplus estimates. BEA is 
strongly in favor of publishing advanced total manufacturing estimates, 
as well as the increased detail for the nondurable goods industries. 
Additionally, details on manufacturing inventories are used to prepare 
the quarterly change in private domestic inventories, the annual I-O 
accounts tables, and quarterly GDP-by-industry statistics.
    CEA, other government agencies, and businesses use the survey 
results to formulate and make decisions. CEA reports manufacturing 
data, one of the principal federal economic indicators, to the 
President each month for awareness on the current state of the economy. 
In addition, CEA's Macroeconomic Forecaster uses manufacturing 
shipments and new orders data, two of the key monthly data releases 
each month, to keep track of real economic growth in the current 
quarter and the future production demand for manufacturing sector.
    The BLS uses the data as input to their Producer Price Indexes and 
in developing productivity measurements.
    Policymakers, such as the FRB, need to have the timeliest estimates 
in order to anticipate economic trends, and act accordingly based on 
the economic momentum when setting monetary and fiscal policy. FRB also 
uses M3 estimates to calculate monthly industrial production indexes 
for manufacturing industries.
    The Conference Board uses M3 new orders, a leading economic 
indicator of manufacturing activities, as a base for its LEI, which is 
designed to monitor the business cycle. Private businesses and market 
analysts are tracking manufacturing new orders and shipments to 
anticipate demand, adjust production, and manage inventories. A surge 
in orders may prompt hiring, capacity expansion, or capital investment. 
A decline may trigger cost-cutting or market diversification. Breaking 
down orders by durable and non-durable goods helps identify trends in 
capital spending (durable goods manufacturing industries) versus 
consumer demand (nondurable goods manufacturing industries). This 
granularity is valuable for investors, analysts, and corporate 
planners.
    Information quality is an integral part of the pre-dissemination 
review of the information disseminated by the U.S. Census Bureau (fully 
described in the U.S. Census Bureau's Information Quality Guidelines). 
Information quality is also integral to the information collected by 
the U.S. Census Bureau and is incorporated into the clearance process 
required by the Paperwork Reduction Act.
    Frequency: Monthly.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Sections 131, 182 and 193.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
<a href="http://www.reginfo.gov">www.reginfo.gov</a>. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB 
Control Number 0607-0008.

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Compliance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2026-22541 Filed 11-4-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P


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