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NE\N ENGLAND

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Bank Service Charges in New England

----

A survey shows that checking account
charges vary widely in the region's banks.
Depositors with small accounts generally pay
less than bank costs while depositors with
large accounts may pay more.

The Fall and Rise of Textiles
-

Short-term prospe ts are encouraging for
New England's textile industry, now comprised
largely of woolen goods. The outlook for the
optimistic.

NEW

ENGLAND

BUSINESS REVIEW
Bank Service Charges
in New England
by Jared Hazleton

merchandise consists primarily
of services. For most services a bank
renders, it must receive compensation in some
form. The two primary sources of compensation are (1) service charges based on activity
and the amount of service rendered; and
(2) interest income from investment of funds
left on deposit with the bank after setting
aside the reserves required by law. In 1967,
service charges accounted for about 11 percent
of bank income in New England, with the
remainder being provided by earnings on
loans and investments.
BANK'S

The purpose of this article is to examine the
service charges on checking accounts made by
commercial banks in New England. Early in
1967 New England's 399 commercial banks
were asked to submit to the Federal Reserve
Bank of Boston a description of their checking
account service charges. Replies were received
from 328 banks, or a little over 80 percent of
the banks in the First Federal Reserve District.

The Components of Bank Service Charges
Two basic types of checking accounts are
offered to the public. All banks offer regular
2

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checking accounts for customers reqmrmg
complete checking services. In addition, about
72 percent of the banks responding to the
survey offer some form of special checking
account designed for customers who require
only limited checking service.
In general,
special checking accounts, which go under a
variety of names, are more economical for
individuals who carry nominal balances and
write only a small number of checks each
month.
Money deposited in a checking account is a
source of funds for a commercial bank. On the
other hand, the bank incurs certain expenses
in providing the checking account service.
Each check drawn on the account must be
cleared and entered on the account records,
deposits must also be entered, and statements
must be mailed periodically to the account
holders. In addition, some portion of the general overhead of the bank, heat, light, building,
etc. must be covered by service charge income.
If the customer maintains an account of
sufficient size then a balance remains for lending and investing; thus, the charge for service
may be offset by the return on the invested

May 1968
money. If, however, the balance in the account is inadequate to pay for the services
rendered, a service charge is necessary.
To compute service charges on regular
checking accounts, banks usually consider
some or all of the following: a fixed monthly
fee, fees for account activity, and a credit for
funds 1eft on deposit.
Special checking accounts differ from regular
checking accounts in that a single activity
fee, based on the number of checks written,
is used to cover all processing costs. In addition, a monthly or quarterly maintenance
charge is made. No credit is given for funds
left on deposit.
Table 1 summarizes the range of charges
and allowances for both regular and special
checking accounts in the banks responding to
the survey.
Most banks charge a monthly maintenance
fee on regular checking accounts to cover the
bank's fixed costs; for example, the expense

of the monthly statement and the bank's
readiness to serve. About 84 percent of the
banks in the survey charge a monthly mamtenance fee of between $0.50 and $0.75.

In addition, banks generally charge for each
item contributing to the account activity the checks paid, the deposits made to the account, the number of items included in the
deposit. While nearly all banks charge for each
check drawn on the account, banks vary
widely in the charge made for items deposited
with the bank. About one-fourth of the banks
in the survey make no charge for deposits.
Of the remaining banks, some charge for every
item in the deposit; others charge only for the
checks deposited or the checks deposited
which are drawn on other banks; and some
banks make a charge only for checks deposited
which are not cleared locally.
The total charge for account act1v1ty 1s
usually offset to some degree by a credit given
for each $100 kept on deposit during the
month. About half of the banks base the

Table 1

Summary of Bank Service Charges on Checking Accounts in New England
Number
of Banks
Having
This Item

.................

328

Monthly Maintenance Fee ..................
Charge Per Check ..........................
Charge Per Deposit ........................
Charge Per Deposit Item ...................
Credit Per $100 Balance ...................

313
314
244
245
295

Special Checking Accounts ...................

238

Monthly Maintenance Fee ..................
Charge Per Check ..........................

119
238

Regular Checking Accounts:

Lowest

Highest

Median

$ .30
.01
.01
.01
.08

$2.00
.10
.20
.06
.44

$ .55
.06
.05
.02
.10

.25

1.00
.15

.10

.07

.25

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Survey

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New England Business Review
earnings credit on the minimum ledger balance
for the month. The remaining banks base
their credit on the aYerage balance for the
month, the aYerage or minimum collected balance in the account, or the aYerage loanable
balance (computed by deducting the required
reserYes from the average balance for the
month).
As shown in Table 2, banks vary widely in
the credit giYen for each $100 kept on deposit
during the month. The great majority of
banks give a credit of $0.15 or less per $100 of
balance. The credit for balances maintained
can be compared with the rate of return the
account holder could earn by switching his
funds from a demand deposit to a time or
savings deposit. For example, if it is assumed
that the depositor could obtain 6 percent on
his money, then the earnings for a month per
$100 of balance would be $0.50. On this basis,
it can be seen that the average credit given by
New England banks on idle demand deposit
balances amounts to a rate of return of less
than 2 percent.

l t should be noted that banks are not permitted to pay interest on demand deposits.
If the credit given for balances maintained
exceeds the charges for activity and the maintenance fee, then no charge is made for the
account - but the excess is not credited to
the account.
A small number of banks permit a predetermined number of checks to be written free of
charge for each $100 or some multiple of $100
kept on deposit. Charges are then made for
checks exceeding the maximum allowed free,
and in some cases, for unusual deposit activity.
The method follows the same principle of
recognizing both the cost of processing which
is incurred and the potential income for the
bank from the investment of funds made available through demand deposit accounts.
About half the banks in the survey charge
a monthly maintenance fee for special checking
accounts. The only other charge for this type
of account is a charge per check, normally
about $0.10 each.

The "Price" of
Checking Account Services

Table 2

Earnings Credit Paid By New England
Banks on Regular Checking Accounts

NONE
$ .08
.10
.11
.12
.125
.13
.14
.15
Over$ .15

Table 1 shows the wide variation in charges
made by New England banks on checking
accounts. The actual service charge is a composite of the individual charges and credits
discussed above. In order to determine the
degree of variation in the "price" paid for
checking account services it is necessary to
"price" a typical package of services. For this
purpose, an actual service charge for each bank
in the survey was computed for two hypothetical accounts, one an individual account
and the other a small business account.

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Survey

The typical individual account was based

Number of Banks

33
2
142
2
11
8
1
1
113
15

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Earnings Credit per
$100 of Balance

May 1968
Table 3

Service Charges for a Typical
Individual Checking Account
Number of Banks
Service Charge

$0.00 to
.26 to
.51 to
.76 to
1.01 to
1.26 to
1.51 to
1.76 to
2.01 to
2.26 to
2.51 to
2.76 to
3.01 to
3.26 to
3.51 to

Regular

Special

5
4
3
11
13
40
67
55
49
36
27
12
5
1
0

0
1
0
1
0
3
1
70
50
84
12
15
0
0
1

$0.25
.50
.75
1.00
1.25
1.50
1.75
2.00
2.25
2.50
2.75
3.00
3.25
3.50
3.75

Average Service Charge:
Median Service Charge:

Regular $1.85
Special
2.29
Regular $1.86
Special
2.25

during the month, 15 deposits were made
containing a total of 45 deposit items, and an
average balance of $1,000 was maintained in
the account. The resulting service charges
for 295 New England banks are given in
Table 4.

It should be noted that Table 4 contains
computations only for regular checking accounts. With 50 checks written during the
month, a special checking account would cost
at least $5.00. Comparison with the charges
listed in Table 4 reveals that rarely would such
an active customer have a special checking
account.

"Free" Checking Accounts
Several banks do not charge for certain
types of checking accounts. Exemptions for
employees, directors, churches, clergy, schools,
Table 4

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Survey

on a total of 20 checks written during the
month, 4 deposits containing a total of 5
deposit items, and an average monthly balance
of $100. Table 3 shows the wide range of
service charges for both regular and special
checking accounts with these characteristics.

It also shows that on the average a regular
checking account, for an individual writing
about 20 checks a month and keeping an average balance of about $100, costs about $0.44
a month less than a special checking account.
Had the number of checks used during the
month been about 12, the cost for the two
types of checking accounts would have been
about the same.
In pricing the small business account, it was
assumed that a total of 50 checks were written

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Service Charges for a
Typical Business Account
Service Charge

Number of Banks

$0.00 to $1.00
1.01 to 1.50
1.51 to 2.00
2.01 to 2.50
2.51 to 3.00
3.01 to 3.50
3.51 to 4.00
4.01 to 4.50
4.51 to 5.00
5.01 to 5.50
5.51 to 6.00
6.01 to S.50
6.51 to 7.00
Over $7.00

29
15
26
27
43
45
36
26
34
19
16
8
3

Average Service Charge:

$3.33

Median Service Charge:

3.35

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Survey

New England Business Review
municipal governments, and various nonprofit or charity organizations are relatively
common. In general, these exemptions are
justified because of sizeable balances mamtained or more frequently, by the public
relations value to the bank. In the survey,
10 banks offered free accounts to college students and 8 banks offered free accounts to
senior citizens.
Nineteen banks, or about 5 percent of the
banks in the survey, offered "free" checking
services for personal accounts which maintained a certain minimum balance - regardless of the activity in the account. The minimum balances required are shown in Table 5
below.

An Exam in at ion of Costs
In order to evaluate the pricing of checking
account services, it is necessary to examine
the cost of providing these services.
The
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston conducts an
annual cost study for about 100 banks in New
England. This study reveals that the average
cost of processing a check is about $.07, the
average cost of processing a deposit is about
$.10, and the average cost of processing a check
deposited with the bank is about $.03. The cost
of computing and mailing statements for an
average checking account is about $19.60 per
year or $1.63 per month, and $8.16 per year
or $0.68 per month for a special checking
account.

Table 5

"Free" Checking Accounts Offered by
New England Banks
Number of Banks

Minimum Balance
Required

100

200

1
3
4
1
1
1
1

300
400
500
750
1,000
4,000
10,000

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Survey

Of the banks offering "free" checking services for personal accounts maintaining balances of $400 or less, six are banks established
since 1957. Many newly chartered banks in
recent years have chosen to compete for
demand deposit customers by reducing their
charges on checking accounts.I
1 See "New Commt>rcial Banks in Massachusetts," New England
8u5iness Review (St>ptembe r 1967 ), p . 5.

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Using these average cost figures, the typical
individual account priced in Table 3 would
cost the bank about $3.50. On the average
balance of $100, the bank could earn about
$.33 a month. Thus, the net cost to the bank
of this account would be $3.17. For the small
business account pictured in Table 4, the
average cost would be $7 .53, earnings on the
average balance maintained of $1,000· would
be about $3.33, and the net cost to the bank
would be about $4.20.
When these net cost figures are compared
with the range of charges made by New
England banks for accounts having these
characteristics, only a handful of banks seem
to charge enough to cover costs. Thus, banks
in general appear to underprice their checking
account service. At the same time, they also
appear to give unrealistically low credit for
balances maintained in checking accounts.
How can this apparent paradox in pricing
checking account services be explained?

May 1968
The Rationale
Examination of the average size of the regular checking account helps in part to explain the
method of pricing checking account services.
The cost study reveals that the average size
of a regular checking account is about $2,700.
This is due to the sizeable balances maintained
by corporate and business customers. For
example, accounts having balances in excess
of $5,000 make up on the average less than
10 percent of the total number of regular
checking accounts, but constitute about 75
percent of the dollar volume of such accounts.
Individual accounts on the average have much
smaller balances. The cost study shows that
the average size of a special checking account
is only $225.

It is apparent that banks price their checking account services under their costs on the
typical individual account. Losses on these
accounts, however, are more than made up
by earnings on the sizeable balances maintained by a relatively few corporate and
business customers.

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Discrimination in favor of small account
holders may be justified for two reasons.
First, it should be noted that business firms
probably require a greater amount of "free"
banking services than do individuals. Since
the banker, unlike the lawyer, does not charge
for his time, he obtains compensation for these
services by the earnings on demand deposits
over and above the cost of services provided.
Second~ it should also be recognized that a
bank offers other services in addition to the
checking account for which charges are imposed. To the extent that checking account
customers purchase these other services, it
may be beneficial to the bank to offer checking
accounts, particularly to individuals, at or
below cost. The wide range of bank service
charges in part reflects differences in assessment of the desirability of using the checking
account service charge as a means of attracting
customers.
A technical supplement containing more detailed
data on bank service charges is available on request to
this Bank's Research Department.

New England Business Review

The Fall and Rise of Textiles
by Edwin F. Estle

ENGLAND'S textile industry is participating in the current cyclical upswing of
textile activity at the national level. Regional
production is now running some 6 percent
above the low reached in the middle of last
year. Nevertheless, the long-term decline of
the industry in New England is continuing,
with most of the attrition occurring in cotton
weaving activity.
EW

Consequently, the composit10n of the regional industry is changing. Woolen textile
production now predominates in the region's
textile pattern. This change in composition
has altered the cyclical pattern of regional
textile activity. As a consequence, movements
in New England's total textile activity no
longer reflect that in the Nation, where cotton
textile production continues to predominate.
The outlook for woolen goods sales has improved in recent months. Unfilled orders are
rising, while inventories are at relatively low
levels. The New England industry is reflecting
this improvement, and short-term prospects
look encouraging. Over the longer term, however, prospects are less optimistic. The region's
woolen mills have experienced some relative
decline in their competitive position in this
decade. Both productivity and wage levels
have declined relative to the national level.
8

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New England's Textile Cycle
The regional industry had experienced a 17
month decline m business activity that
stretched from April 1966 to August 1967. Over
this time span, production had fallen by more
than a tenth, and employment had dropped
by 8,000.
All sectors of the textile industry - cotton,
man-made fibers, and woolen goods - experienced the cyclical downturn and are now
participating in the current upswing. However, some differences in timing exist among
these groups.
The decline in woolen and
worsted production began somewhat earlier
than that of man-made fibers, which in turn
preceded the decline in cotton goods production. These differences are reflected in the
employment patterns of the individual states
of the region because of their differing textile
industry composition. Connecticut's industry,
for instance, remained on a plateau throughout
most of 1966 and only began to decline in
November of that year. In Massachusetts, on
the other hand, the peak occurred in January
of 1966. The earlier downturn in Massachusetts was the result of a greater concentration
in woolen goods production than in Connecticut.
The current expansion, in contrast, started
;n all the states at the same time. Employment

TEXTILE EMPLOYMENT
U.S. Scale

N.E. Scale

(ooo)

( ooo)

Seasonally Adjusted

980

102

970

101
NEW ENGLAND

960

100

950

940

930

920

910

UNITED ST A TES

900

890

880
1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

SOURCE: U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS .
NEW ENGLAND SEASONAL ADJUSTMENT BY FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF BOSTON .

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New England Business Review
reached its low last September and then moved
up strongly in October and has continued
rising virtually unabated ever since.

Comparison With U. S. Cycle
The cyclical decline in the textile industry
began much earlier and lasted longer in New
England than in the Nation as a whole. Employment peaked in the region 8 months before
the high reached nationally. Moreover, the
regional employment decline lasted for 2
months after the trough was reached nationwide. The longer period of decline in the region
resulted in relatively larger employment and
production downturns than nationally. Employment fell only 3 percent nationally, as
compared with 7 percent in the region.
These differences arise from a number of
factors. The composition of textile activity
differs considerably in the region from the
Nation as a whole. Woolen textiles comprise a
much larger fraction of New England's total
textile activity. Over a fourth of the region's
production is in woolen goods, compared with
less than a tenth of the Nation's output.
Hence, the early downturn in woolen goods
production both in the region and Nation
affected the regional measures of total activity
to a greater extent than those for the Nation.
However, this was not the only cause for
the divergence in activity. Output of cotton
goods and man-made fibers turned downward
in New England far in advance of that nationally. To illustrate, employment in cotton, silk,
and synthetic broad woven fabrics peaked in
Massachusetts in October of 1965, whereas it
continued advancing nationally for another 11
months. Some of this disparity is attributable
to the relatively smaller amount of defense

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orders for textile goods coming to the region.
In fiscal year 1966 orders to regional firms
advanced 160 percent over fiscal 1965 levels,
whereas nationally the gain was 243 percent.
Moreover, in fiscal 1967 orders to the region
declined by a relatively greater amount, 15 percent, than in the Nation as a whole, 8 percent.
Another factor in New England's relatively
greater decline over the past downward phase
of the cycle is its continuing trend of declining
textile activity. The rate of decline in this
decade has been at a much slower pace than in
the 1950's. Nevertheless, the trend is downward. Since 1960 the region has registered a
secular trend decrease of 3,100 workers
annually. In the Nation, on the other hand,
the trend of textile activity has been upward
in this decade, rising about 7,200 workers each
year.

A Declining Trend
The decline of cotton weaving mills in the
region was substantial in the first half of this
decade, with employment falling by threefifths from 1960 to 1965. Today there are
fewer than 8,000 workers in this industry in
New England, whereas in 1954 this industry
employed about 30,000.
Just recently the last cotton weaving mill in
Rhode Island ceased operations. Today, New
England accounts for less than 3 percent of
cotton weaving activity in the Nation.
Thus, the future of New England's textile
industry now centers around the prospects for
woolen textiles. Cyclical movements in the
region's textile industry are largely a reflection
of the cyclical pattern in woolen textiles.

EMPLOYMENT IN WEAVING - FINISHING MILLS, WOOL
Mass. Sea le

U.S. Scale

(ooo)
Seasonally Adjusted
(ooo)
48.0 . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
7.0

47.5

6.7

47.0

6.4

46.5

6.1

MASSACHUSETTS
UNITED STATES

46.0

5.8

45.5

5.5

45.0

5.2

44.5

4.9

44.0

4.6

43.5

4.3

43.0 _ _ _ _ _ ___.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _....... 4.0
1967
1968
1965
1966
1964
SOURCE: U .S . BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

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SEASONAL ADJUSTMENT BY FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF BOSTON.

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New England Business Review

The Nation's Woolen Industry
The woolen textile industry completed a
full cycle in its activity in April of last year,
reaching a trough in that month. Since then,
production has been steadily advancing. The
completed cycle covered a relatively long
period of 31 months, starting in August of 1964.
From that point output advanced by 21 percent to a peak in January of 1966, then fell
back by the same relative amount to last April.
At the start of this year, production was running 17 percent above last year's low.
The cyclical movement of the woolen textile
industry has been in response to changes in
civilian rather than government orders. Production to meet government orders did move
up sharply from the third to fourth quarters of
1964 and this may have provided some of the
cyclical impetus upward. However, government orders played no part in the downward
phase just passed, for production to meet these
orders rose without interruption through the
second quarter of last year.
Cuttings for men's suits, on the other hand,
advanced sharply in 1965, with the third
quarter of that year up more than a tenth from
the level of the second quarter of 1964. Then
a decline in these cuttings began which lasted
through the first quarter of last year. At that
point, cuttings were off 20 percent from the
peak. Men's suit cuttings over the last three
quarters of 1967 then moved back up by 15
percent. Much the same pattern is shown in
the cuttings of overcoats and topcoats.
The cyclical expansion brought wit h it a rise
in inventories of wool apparel fabrics. These
inventories peaked in early 1966 and have been
declining ever since. At the start of this year

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they were at their lowest level in the past 4
years. Unfilled orders also reached a high in
early 1966 and then fell throughout the remainder of that year. Last year they advanced
moderately but steadily, and at year's end were
at levels comparable with those at the beginning of the previous cyclical expansion.
These developments brought the ratio of
unfilled orders to inventories to a high of 5.5
in the first quarter of 1966, then a decline to
3.4 a year later. As this year began the ratio
was again back to 5.5.
Thus, the woolen industry IS now m a
relatively strong inventory situation. Further
expansion of woolen goods orders wiU require
further advances in production.
The price situation, however, IS as yet
relatively unfavorable to the industry. Since
July 1964 prices of wool products have decreased steadily, and at the beginning of 1968
were down 4.2 percent from their peak. Raw
wool prices also moved in a like manner, but
reached their low earlier, in April 1967. Since
then they have remained at or above this low.

oolen

"'ew England

The woolen goods industry is more suited to
New England conditions than is the cotton
textile industry because it relies upon a more
highly skilled labor force. Wool fabrics are
styled in the loom, that is, the design is woven
into the fabric. Much of the cotton goods, on
the other hand, is woven in the gray and must
be bleached, dyed, or printed later. In addition, close supervision is required in the blending of various grades of virgin and reworked
wools. These factors raise the skill levels
needed and reduce the number of looms which
can be tended in the woolen industry.

May 1968
Capital Expenditures Per Employee In Woolen Mills
New England

Year

New England

United States

Percent of
United States

1968
1967
1966
1965
1964
1963
1962
1961
1960
1959
1958

$516*
693*
366*
227
147
173
209
224
212
155
139

N.A.
N.A.

722
391
436
333
363
310
263
217
173

50.7
58.0
33.7
51.9
57.6
72.2
80.6
71.4
80.3

*From Federal Reserve Bank of Boston survey. All other data from Censuses and Surveys of Manufactures, U.S. Department
of Commerce.

Consequently, wages are higher per manhour in woolen than in cotton mills. According
to the last Census of Manufactures in 1963,
production workers in New England's woolen
weaving and finishing mills were receiving 4.6
percent more per hour than those in cotton
weaving mills.

Value added per dollar of payroll in New
England was 3 percent above the national
level in 1958, while in 1965 it was almost 8 percent below.
These measures suggest that
regional firms must improve their productivity
levels if woolen mills are to remain a part of
the regional economy.

The competitive pos1t1on of the region's
woolen mills relative to those in other regions
of the Nation has declined in recent years. For
instance, in 1958 the amount of value added in
woolen manufacturing per production worker
manhour was virtually identical in New England and the Nation, less than a 1 percent
difference. In 1965, in contrast, the region's
value added per manhour was 14 percent below
the national average. This decline in productivity is reflected in relative wage levels. Again
only a 1 percent differential existed between
the average annual wage of workers in New
England's woolen mills and those in mills
nationwide in 1958. However, by 1965 the
differential had widened until New England's
wage was 5 percent below the national average.

Investment in new plant and machines is,
of course, a major ingredient in boosting
workers' productivity. Regional firms have
been failing to do this. Capital outlays per
worker in New England mills were only 80
percent as large as the national average in
1958. By 1965 the proportion had dropped to
58 percent. As the accompanying table shows,
the intervening years clearly show this declining trend.

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In the past 2 years, New England woolen
mills have advanced their capital outlays
sharply. However, based upon available data,
the effort per employee probably remains at a
very low level relative to the effort nationally
in the woolen industry. The Bank's survey this
spring indicates that regional firms expect to
13

New England Business Review
keep outlays per employee in 1968 near last
year's level.

from the low of last year. Unfilled orders are
rising, while inventories are at low levels.

Conclusion

The region's woolen mills have experienced
some relative decline in their competitive
position in this decade. Capital outlays per
employee have been relatively low. This level
must be raised if the regional industry is to
thrive. It is true that regional firms have
raised outlays, but on an employee basis relative to the national level, they are still low.

ew England's textile industry is now concentrated in woolen rather than cotton goods
production. Thus, the future of the industry
is intimately involved with the outlook for
woolen goods sales. Woolen goods sales have
begun to move upward, as the industry recovers

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

May 1968

Here's New England MANUFACTURING INDEXES (seasonally adjusted)
1957-59 = 100

NEW ENGLAND
pMar. '68
Mar. '67
Feb. '68

UNITED STATES
Mar. '68
Feb. '68
Mar. '67

All Manufacturing

148

149

145

164

158

Nonelectrical Machinery
Electrical Machinery
Transportation Equipment

158
179
160

161
179
171

167
172
162

180
186
178

181
187
175

185
184
163

Textiles, Apparel, Leather
Textiles
Apparel
Leather and Shoes

109
104
118
108

107
103
117
104

100
99
111
100

143
149
n.a.
n.a.

142
148
147
110

136
139
144
101

Paper

146

143

138

158

157

150

Percent Change From:
BANKING AND CREDIT
Commercial and Industrial Loans($ millions)
(Weekly Reporting Member Banks)

Mar. '68
2,896

Feb. '68
+3

Mar. '67
+11

Percent Change From:
Mar. '68
65,899

Feb. '68
+ 1

Mar. '67
+ 7

Deposits ($ millions)
(Weekly Reporting Member Banks)

8,249

+12

198,826

Check Payments ($ billions)
(Selected Metropolitan Areas)*

288.9

+22

4,020.8

Consumer Installment Credit Outstanding
(index, seas. adj. 1957-59 = 100)

188.3

233.5

153

+12

n.a.

66,831

1,437

+ 1
-10

n.a.

119.5

DEPARTMENT STORE SALES
(index, seas. adj. 1957-59 = 100)

EMPLOYMENT, PRICES, MAN-HOURS
& EARNINGS
Nonagricultural Employment (thousands)

4,256

Insured Unemployment (thousands)
(excl. R.R. and temporary programs)

111

Consumer Prices
(index, 1957-59 = 100)
Production-Worker Man-Hou rs
(index, 1957-59 = 100)

n.a.

104.0

114.8

120.18

Weekly Earnings in Manufacturing($)

OTHER INDICATORS
Total Construction Contract Awards**($ thous.)
Residential

111.88
(Mass.)

+13

n.a.

+89

4,278,252

+12

+22

+34

+58

1,725,628

+18

+45

+39

1,477,739

+121

+282

1,074,885

+11
0

106,972
192

60
1,040

+10

-28
+

198

1,021
19,520

p = preliminary

+21
+

+23

-16

*Seasonally adjusted annual rate
**3-mos. moving averages - Jan., Feb., Mar.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

+36

105,420

Business Failures (number)

78,399

Public Works and Utilities

New Business Incorporations (number)

290,792

Nonresidential
Electrical Energy Production (4 weeks
ending March 23)
(index, seas. adj. 1957-59 = 100)

n.a. = not available

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

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Full text of New England Economic Review : May 1968

FRASER