Empire State Manufacturing Survey: Number of employees: 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 number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 11.3 in August 2026, versus 12.0 in July.
Sample. There are 302 observations overall in the monthly time series presented in the plot above. The series covers the time span stretching from July 2001 to August 2026.
History. Here’s a quick look at a few statistics computed on the entire sample: the diffusion index had an average value of 4.1; it reached its maximum of 30.8 in May 2004; it reached its lowest level of -48.4 in April 2020.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-06-30 | 12.9 |
| 2026-07-31 | 12.0 |
| 2026-08-31 | 11.3 |
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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 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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