Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Average employee workweek: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - United States - Philly FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey (Philly FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. According to survey data about nonmanufacturing firms based in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for the average employee workweek (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at 8.5 in September 2026, versus -13.4 in August 2026.
Sample. There are 187 records in the monthly series presented in the plot above. The series covers the time range extending from March 2011 to September 2026.
History. Here's a snapshot of a few descriptive statistics we calculated on the full sample: the diffusion index hit a trough of -48.1 in April 2020; it achieved a maximum of 40.8 in December 2011; it had a mean of 12.8.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 10.8000 |
| 2026-08-31 | -13.4000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 8.50000 |
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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 | 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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