The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s MBOS is a monthly qualitative survey that asks high-level executives about the direction of change in activity at their manufacturing firms located in the Third District (Delaware, southern New Jersey, and eastern and central Pennsylvania). Sometimes referred to as the Philly Fed Index, the MBOS launched in 1968 and is the longest-running manufacturing survey compiled by a regional Federal Reserve Bank.
We ask manufacturers to indicate the direction of change (increase, no change, decrease) from the prior month for overall business activity as well as for these specific indicators: new orders, shipments, unfilled orders, delivery times, inventories, prices paid, prices received, employment, and average employee workweek. We also ask firms to indicate their expected direction of change over the upcoming six-month period for all these indicators and capital expenditures.
See the Methodology, User Guide, and FAQs for more information.
