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 a sample of manufacturing firms surveyd by the FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at 0.0 in December 2025, compared to 6.7 in the previous month.
Sample. This monthly time series has 294 records overall. The time period covered by the series goes from July 2001 to December 2025.
History. Here’s a quick look at some summary statistics we calculated on the entire sample: the diffusion index had a mean value of 4.0; it peaked at 30.8 in May 2004; it reached its lowest level of -48.4 in April 2020.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-10-31 | 7.8 |
| 2025-11-30 | 6.7 |
| 2025-12-31 | 0.0 |
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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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