Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Average employee workweek: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - United States - Philly FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey (Philly FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. According to survey data about manufacturers based in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for the average employee workweek (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 12.8 in October 2025, compared to 14.9 in September.
Sample. This monthly time series has 690 observations in total. The period covered by the series goes from May 1968 to October 2025.
History. Here's a snapshot of some summary statistics calculated on the entire sample: the diffusion index was equal on average to 0.1; it recorded a minimum of -55.4 in April 2020; it achieved a maximum of 37.2 in March 2021.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-08-31 | 4.7 |
| 2025-09-30 | 14.9 |
| 2025-10-31 | 12.8 |
Tip. For easier exploration, we group time series into data sets and worksheets. When you navigate further down, you will discover how we arranged further information related to the statistics published here.
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did the average employee workweek 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 Philadelphia |
| Source type | Central bank |
| Data licence | Not copyrightable under U.S. law |
| Measure type | Diffusion index (share of respondents reporting an increase minus share reporting a decrease) |