R. Mark Rogers
Economic Review, Vol. 81, No. 2, 1996
Download the full text of this article 
In late 1991 the Atlanta Fed's research department launched the first comprehensive survey to focus solely on indicators of manufacturing activity in the Southeast. Because the manufacturing sector is more cyclical than most other sectors, the Survey of Southeastern Manufacturing Conditions has been helpful in tracking the region's economy.
This article revisits the survey, examining in particular the implementation of seasonal adjustment procedures in March 1995. The seasonally adjusted data make time series comparisons easier and thus provide a clearer picture of past and current conditions and manufacturers' expectations. After briefly describing the makeup of the survey, the author describes the seasonal adjustment process and then reports the trends, conditions, and expectations in the manufacturing sector tracked by the survey since its inception.
March/April 1996