Business Leaders Survey: Employment: Future (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally unadjusted) - United States - NY FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Business Leaders Survey (NY FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. Based on service firms' responses to the Business Leaders Survey carried out by the New York FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for employment (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) stood at 9.5 in October 2026, compared to 5.0 in the previous month.
Sample. There are 266 data points overall in the monthly time series presented in the figure above. The time span covered by the series is from September 2004 to October 2026.
History. Check out some descriptive statistics we calculated on the entire sample: the diffusion index had a mean value of 18.2; it hit a trough of -42.9 in December 2008; it attained a maximum of 51.8 in May 2021.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-08-31 | 9.30000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 5.00000 |
| 2026-10-31 | 9.50000 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Over the next six months do you expect employment at this company to increase or decrease? |
| Country | United States |
| Economic concept | Business survey response |
| Data type | Leading indicator of the business cycle |
| Deflation method | Not applicable |
| Seasonally adjusted | No |
| Rescaling | None |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Unit | Percentage points |
| Source | Federal Reserve Bank of New York |
| Source type | Central bank |
| Data licence | Free use subject to conditions |
| Measure type | Diffusion index (share of respondents reporting an increase minus share reporting a decrease) |
Series in the same data set
Discover the other time series included in this data set.
Current conditions SA
| Series Name | Observations | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Leaders Survey: Wages: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - United States - NY FED - Monthly | 266 | 2004-09-30 | 2026-10-31 |
Future conditions SA
| Series Name | Observations | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Leaders Survey: Wages: Future (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - United States - NY FED - Monthly | 266 | 2004-09-30 | 2026-10-31 |