Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Number of employees: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally unadjusted) - United States - Philly FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey (Philly FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. Based on a sample of manufacturing firms surveyd by the FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 8.0 in September 2026, compared to 20.8 in the previous month.
Sample. This monthly series has 701 records overall. The time range covered by the series extends from May 1968 to September 2026.
History. Take a look at some descriptive statistics computed on the whole sample: the diffusion index hit a trough of -48.8 in March 2009; it attained a maximum of 45.7 in April 2022; it had a mean of 2.2.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 6.90000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 20.8000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 8.00000 |
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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 | No |
| 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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