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 ( printed 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 www.reginfo.gov. 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 www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. 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.