Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Number of employees: 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 surveyd by the FED, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at 0.8 in March 2026, compared to -1.3 in February 2026.
Sample. The monthly time series shown in the graph has a total of 695 observations. The series covers the time period extending from May 1968 to March 2026.
History. Here’s a quick look at some descriptive statistics calculated on the whole sample: the diffusion index hit a minimum of -51.8 in March 2009; it reached its highest level of 39.6 in April 2022; it averaged 2.2.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-01-31 | 9.7 |
| 2026-02-28 | -1.3 |
| 2026-03-31 | 0.8 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did the number of employees 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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