Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Average employee workweek: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally unadjusted) - 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 unadjusted diffusion index for the average employee workweek (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 12.1 in October 2025, versus 10.7 in September 2025.
Sample. There are 690 data points in the monthly time series shown in the chart above. The time span covered by the series extends from May 1968 to October 2025.
History. Here's a snapshot of a few summary statistics calculated on the full sample: the diffusion index had a mean of 0.2; it recorded a minimum of -49.2 in April 2020; it recorded its maximum of 42.9 in March 2021.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-08-31 | 7.7 |
| 2025-09-30 | 10.7 |
| 2025-10-31 | 12.1 |
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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 | No |
| 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) |