Empire State Manufacturing Survey: Average employee workweek: Current (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 average employee workweek (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 0.9 in August 2025, compared to 4.6 in the previous month.
Sample. There are 290 observations in the montly time series displayed in the graph above. The time period covered by the series stretches from July 2001 to August 2025.
History. Check out a few summary statistics calculated on the full sample: the diffusion index had an average value of 1.1; it reached its highest level of 29.2 in May 2004; it recorded a minimum of -55.5 in April 2020.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-06-30 | 0.9 |
| 2025-07-31 | 4.6 |
| 2025-08-31 | 0.9 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did the average employee workweek 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 | 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) |