Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Wage and benefit costs: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - United States - Philly FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey (Philly FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. According to survey data about nonmanufacturing firms based in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for wage and benefit costs (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at 40.7 in September 2026, compared to 39.2 in August.
Sample. The monthly time series presented in the graph has 187 records in total. The time range covered by the series goes from March 2011 to September 2026.
History. Here's a peek at a few statistics calculated on the entire sample: the diffusion index registered a minimum of -37.3 in April 2020; it reached its maximum of 62.5 in November 2021; it had a mean of 33.4.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 37.1000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 39.2000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 40.7000 |
Heads-up. Our metadata often comprise references to the sources of the data series we publish. You can use these references to find more details.
Not for investment purposes. Data series and other information available on this web site are not supposed to be used for investment purposes or other financial decisions. Users should ask for professional advice and perform their own independent due diligence before making any financial commitments.
Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did wage and benefit costs 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
Discover the other time series included in this data set.