Empire State Manufacturing Survey: Number of employees: 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. According to survey data about NY-based manufacturers collected by the Federal Reserve, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) stood at 5.8 in October 2025, compared to -3.9 in the previous month.
Sample. There are 292 records in the monthly series displayed in the plot above. The series covers the time span going from July 2001 to October 2025.
History. Here's a glimpse of a few simple statistics we calculated on the whole sample: the diffusion index had a mean value of 17.9; it recorded its highest level of 44.5 in April 2021; it hit a minimum of -23.6 in March 2009.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-08-31 | 1.8 |
| 2025-09-30 | -3.9 |
| 2025-10-31 | 5.8 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will the number of employees 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 | 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) |