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. Based on a sample of manufacturing firms surveyed by the Fed, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for the average employee workweek (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at 7.5 in October 2026, versus 18.0 in September.
Sample. This monthly time series has a total of 702 observations. The series covers the time span going from May 1968 to October 2026.
History. Here's a peek at some summary statistics computed on the full sample: the diffusion index recorded a bottom of -53.5 in April 2020; it reached a maximum of 36.5 in March 2021; it had a mean value of 0.3.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-08-31 | 26.5000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 18.0000 |
| 2026-10-31 | 7.50000 |
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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) |
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