Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Average employee workweek: Future (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - United States - Philly FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey (Philly FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. According to survey data about manufacturers collected by the Federal Reserve in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for the average employee workweek (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was 22.5 in September 2025, versus 4.3 in August 2025.
Sample. In the monthly time series plotted above, there are 689 data points in total. The time span covered by the series goes from May 1968 to September 2025.
History. Take a look at some simple statistics calculated on the entire sample: the diffusion index hit a minimum of -27.8 in September 1979; it recorded its highest level of 41.0 in March 1977; it was equal on average to 8.2.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | 12.4 |
| 2025-08-31 | 4.3 |
| 2025-09-30 | 22.5 |
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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 | Yes |
| Rescaling | None |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Unit | Percentage points |
| Source | Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia |
| Source type | Central bank |
| Data licence | Not copyrightable under U.S. law |
| Measure type | Diffusion index (share of respondents reporting an increase minus share reporting a decrease) |
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