Empire State Manufacturing Survey: Number of employees: 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 number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) stood at -3.9 in September 2025, compared to 1.8 in August 2025.
Sample. There are 291 data points overall in the montly time series displayed in the chart above. The series covers the period extending from July 2001 to September 2025.
History. Have a look at a few statistics we computed on the full sample: the diffusion index recorded its maximum of 44.5 in April 2021; it reached a minimum of -23.6 in March 2009; it had a mean value of 17.9.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | 5.5 |
| 2025-08-31 | 1.8 |
| 2025-09-30 | -3.9 |
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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 | 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
Discover the other time series included in this data set.