Empire State Manufacturing Survey: Number of employees: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - 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 adjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at 5.8 in March 2026, compared to 4.0 in February 2026.
Sample. This monthly series has 297 records overall. The series covers the time range extending from July 2001 to March 2026.
History. Here’s a quick look at some statistics computed on the whole sample: the diffusion index had an average value of 3.9; it registered a minimum of -53.7 in April 2020; it hit a peak of 24.9 in February 2022.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-01-31 | -9.0 |
| 2026-02-28 | 4.0 |
| 2026-03-31 | 5.8 |
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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 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) |
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