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 collected by the Federal Reserve 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 8.3 in October 2026, compared to 20.0 in September 2026.
Sample. There are 702 data points in the monthly time series displayed in the plot above. The time period covered by the series is from May 1968 to October 2026.
History. Here are some summary statistics calculated on the entire sample: the diffusion index had a mean value of 0.3; it recorded its highest level of 42.9 in March 2021; it registered a minimum of -49.2 in April 2020.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-08-31 | 29.2000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 20.0000 |
| 2026-10-31 | 8.30000 |
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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) |
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