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. According to survey data about manufacturers collected by the Federal Reserve in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 9.1 in October 2026, compared to 11.8 in September 2026.
Sample. There are 702 records in the monthly time series presented in the chart above. The time span covered by the series goes from May 1968 to October 2026.
History. Check out some simple statistics we computed on the entire sample: the diffusion index had a mean value of 2.2; it reached a trough of -51.8 in March 2009; it recorded its maximum of 39.6 in April 2022.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-08-31 | 27.9000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 11.8000 |
| 2026-10-31 | 9.10000 |
Tip. A plus of using our web site is that we give you rich metadata. Find it below to better understand the attributes of the time series that you are exploring.
Not for investment purposes. Content available on FetchSeries is not intended for investment purposes or any other financial decision. Users should seek expert advice and perform independent analysis before pledging money to any investment.
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) |
Series in the same data set
Discover the other time series included in this data set.