Empire State Manufacturing Survey: Average employee workweek: Future (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 future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was 0.0 in August 2025, compared to -0.9 in July.
Sample. In this montly time series, there are 290 data points. The series covers the time range going from July 2001 to August 2025.
History. Here’s a quick look at a few summary statistics computed on the whole sample: the diffusion index reached its lowest level of -13.8 in February 2009; it hit a maximum of 33.0 in February 2002; it averaged 7.3.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-06-30 | -1.8 |
| 2025-07-31 | -0.9 |
| 2025-08-31 | 0.0 |
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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 | 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) |