Empire State Manufacturing Survey: Number of employees: Future (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - 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 a sample of manufacturing firms surveyd by the FED, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was 1.2 in September 2025, compared to 6.9 in the previous month.
Sample. This montly time series has 291 records. The series covers the time period stretching from July 2001 to September 2025.
History. Have a look at some descriptive statistics we computed on the full sample: the diffusion index recorded a minimum of -22.0 in March 2009; it peaked at 42.8 in July 2021; it averaged 18.0.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | 11.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | 6.9 |
| 2025-09-30 | 1.2 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will the number of employees 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 | Yes |
| 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
Discover the other time series included in this data set.