Empire State Manufacturing Survey: Average employee workweek: Future (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally unadjusted) - United States - NY FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Empire State Manufacturing Survey (NY FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. Based on manufacturing firms' responses to the Empire State Survey carried out by the New York FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for the average employee workweek (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) stood at 2.0 in September 2025, compared to 0.0 in August 2025.
Sample. There are 291 records in the montly time series shown in the graph above. The series covers the time span stretching from July 2001 to September 2025.
History. Here's a peek at some summary statistics calculated on the full sample: the diffusion index had a mean of 7.3; it recorded its highest level of 33.0 in February 2002; it recorded a minimum of -13.8 in February 2009.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | -0.9 |
| 2025-08-31 | 0.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | 2.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will the average employee workweek increase or decrease over the next six months? |
| 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 | Montly |
| 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
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