The Philadelphia Fed’s September 2025 Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey showed regional activity at -12.3 (Aug: -17.5) while firm-level activity eased to 5.8 (Aug: 24.6), signaling softer services conditions despite still-positive company-level growth.

• New Orders dropped sharply to 0.5 (Aug: 21.5), with nearly equal shares of firms reporting increases and decreases.

• Sales/Revenues held steady at 17.9 (Aug: 17.5), near the long-run average and the highest since October 2024.

• Full-time employment improved to 9.4 (Aug: -3.8), its strongest since May, while part-time employment weakened further to -7.3.

• The Average Workweek eased to 10.5 (Aug: 17.3), showing slower growth in hours worked.

• Prices Paid declined slightly to 38.8 (Aug: 43.2) but remained elevated, while Prices Received ticked up to 21.8 (Aug: 20.1).

• Future activity at the firm level fell to 12.1 (Aug: 21.2) but stayed positive; regional expectations turned negative at -8.4.

• Special questions: 60% of firms expected Q3 sales/revenues to increase, 25% anticipated declines; 86% cited uncertainty as a business constraint, and over 60% reported labor supply issues. Nearly half (47%) expected uncertainty to worsen over the next three months.