Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Average employee workweek: Future (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 recent survey data about manufacturing firms in the Third Federal Reserve District, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for the average employee workweek (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) stood at 9.1 in October 2025, compared to 17.9 in September.
Sample. In the monthly time series displayed in the chart, there are a total of 690 data points. The series covers the period extending from May 1968 to October 2025.
History. Here's a snapshot of some descriptive statistics computed on the entire sample: the diffusion index recorded its maximum of 41.0 in March 1977; it recorded a minimum of -30.6 in October 1990; it had an average value of 8.2.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-08-31 | 0.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | 17.9 |
| 2025-10-31 | 9.1 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will the average employee workweek 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 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) |