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. According to survey data about NY-based manufacturers collected by the Federal Reserve, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for the average employee workweek (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) stood at -4.0 in September 2026, compared to 1.0 in August.
Sample. There are 303 data points in the monthly series displayed in the figure above. The span of time covered by the series goes from July 2001 to September 2026.
History. Here's a snapshot of a few summary statistics computed on the whole sample: the diffusion index recorded a bottom of -13.8 in February 2009; it recorded its maximum of 33.0 in February 2002; it had an average value of 7.2.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 2.00000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 1.00000 |
| 2026-09-30 | -4.00000 |
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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 | 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) |
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