The Federal Reserve Beige Book report is out and they acknowledge overall the economy is decelerating. We're in a slow down, minimum. folks. It's official.

Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts suggested continued growth in national economic activity during the reporting period of mid-July through the end of August, but with widespread signs of a deceleration compared with preceding periods.

They also acknowledge one element we have graphed here, raw capacity in manufacturing, is down.

Reports on capacity utilization were mixed. Manufacturers of high-tech products have been operating near maximum capacity of late, although this partly reflects a substantial decline in industry-wide capacity over the past three years, as noted by Dallas. More generally, the majority of Cleveland's manufacturing contacts reported that capacity utilization remained below pre-recession levels. Capital spending plans for manufacturers and firms in other industries generally indicate little change or modest increases in coming months, based on reports from the Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, Kansas City, and San Francisco Districts.

They also note the increased use of temp jobs and contract labor is repressing permanent employment.

Hiring of permanent employees was held down in part by employers' reliance on temporary and contract workers, as reported by Philadelphia and Atlanta, although Boston noted that conversions from temporary to permanent staff picked up. Contacts in the Boston, Chicago, and Kansas City Districts noted skill mismatches between available jobs and the workers applying for them, which caused a slight uptick in wage pressures for selected jobs in a narrow set of industries. More generally, however, the reports suggested ample supply of qualified applicants for open positions.

Bottom line, the Fed acknowledged the economic malaise reality we have been documenting for months.