Economists polled by Reuters were expecting a 0.9% decline after a revised 0.7% drop in April, initially reported as a 0.5% decrease.
The data suggest that any slowdown in the pace of the recession that many economists have pointed to in recent weeks may be uneven.
The capacity utilization rate for total industry, a measure of slack in the economy, fell to 68.3%, the lowest level on records dating back to 1967.
