Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Number of employees: Current (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 based in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 5.6 in September 2025, versus 5.9 in August.
Sample. In this monthly series, there are a total of 689 records. The time period covered by the series extends from May 1968 to September 2025.
History. Here's a snapshot of some statistics calculated on the full sample: the diffusion index hit a minimum of -51.8 in March 2009; it peaked at 41.1 in March 2022; it was equal on average to 2.1.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | 10.3 |
| 2025-08-31 | 5.9 |
| 2025-09-30 | 5.6 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did the number of employees increase or decrease in the past month? |
| Country | United States |
| Economic concept | Business survey response |
| Data type | Coincident 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) |
Series in the same data set
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