Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Number of employees: 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 survey data about manufacturers based in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was 35.5 in November 2025, versus 18.2 in October 2025.
Sample. This monthly series has 691 data points overall. The time period covered by the series stretches from May 1968 to November 2025.
History. Here's a glimpse of some simple statistics calculated on the whole sample: the diffusion index had an average value of 15.2; it attained a maximum of 61.2 in December 2021; it hit a trough of -33.4 in September 1990.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-09-30 | 21.4 |
| 2025-10-31 | 18.2 |
| 2025-11-30 | 35.5 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will the number of employees 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) |
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