by Calculated Risk on 12/14/2021 01:16:00 PM
The BLS diffusion index for total private employment was at 63.0 in November, down from 73.9 in October.
For manufacturing, the diffusion index was at 67.3, up from 66.7 the previous month.
Think of this as a measure of how widespread job gains or losses are across industries. The further from 50 (above or below), the more widespread the job losses or gains reported by the BLS. From the BLS:
Click on graph for larger image.
Both indexes declined sharply in March 2020, and collapsed to new record lows in April 2020 due to the impact from COVID-19. Then the indexes increased as the economy bounced back.