Source: FRED: CES0800000034 (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Data through: September 2026 · updated Oct 2 · Updates: Monthly · Next: Nov 6
MThe three bars show the last 3 months for this indicator, oldest left to newest right. Bar height reflects each reading relative to the other two — the tallest is the highest of the three, the shortest the lowest.
Historical context: Currently in the 20th percentile historically — near historically low levels.
What this means right now: Services hours are still growing but have slowed — 0.5%–1.5% above a year earlier, as in 103 months since 1965, 14 of them inside a recession. Services jobs were still higher six months later in 85 of the 103, about 5 in 6.
Services Aggregate Weekly Hours — the last 12 months
Every month's reading, with the band the heatmap gives it. The chart above shows the same series in full.
Month
Value
Band
Sep 2026
+0.7% YoY
Within normal range
Aug 2026
+1.1% YoY
Within normal range
Jul 2026
+0.9% YoY
Within normal range
Jun 2026
+1.3% YoY
Within normal range
May 2026
+1.1% YoY
Within normal range
Apr 2026
+0.7% YoY
Within normal range
Month-end readings of the same series the chart shows, from services_hours_yoy_12m. Values are the current record, not point-in-time: a month that has since been revised shows its revised value.
What is the Services Weekly Hours?
Indexes of Aggregate Weekly Hours, Production and Nonsupervisory Employees, Private Service-Providing (FRED: CES0800000034) is an index of the total amount of work done in the service sector. It is the number of jobs times the hours worked per job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes it monthly from the establishment survey.
Total hours catch what a job count misses: employers cut hours before they cut people. Ahead of the eight recessions since 1970, total services hours turned down before services jobs did in seven — by one to 13 months — and in the same month in 2020. It is the hours member of the services block in the site's Momentum composite (DR-41, 13.5% effective weight), beside the job count.
Because the index mostly grows over time, the cell on the site shows the change from a year earlier. A sustained fall in total services hours from a year earlier is rare outside recessions.
How We Color-Code the Services Weekly Hours
Our heatmap colors this indicator against historically significant thresholds:
Below −1.0%
Services hours shrinking from a year earlier — seen only in 1975, 1982-83, 1991, 2001-02, 2008-10 and 2020-21, each a recession or the year after one
−1.0% – 0.5%
Hours flat or shrinking — 89 months since 1965. Even so, services jobs were still higher six months later in about three of every four of those months (67)
0.5% – 1.5%
Slowing — 103 months since 1965. Services jobs were still higher six months later in about 5 of every 6 of those months (85)
1.5% – 3.0%
Healthy expansion of service-sector hours
Above 3.0%
Strong growth in total services hours — demand running ahead of hiring
Historical Extremes — What Happened Next?
When this indicator reaches extreme levels, history shows consistent patterns:
Apr 2020COVID Shutdown
−17.2%
Total services hours fell by a sixth in a single month — the index dropped from 124.5 in March to 103.3 in April 2020 (−17%). Hours and jobs vanished together, the only sudden stop in the series' history.
Jun 2009GFC Recession
−5.4%
Services hours ran below their year-earlier level for 19 months, from September 2008 to March 2010, reaching −5.4% in June 2009 — the mark of a deep recession. In 2001-02 the fall lasted 15 months and bottomed at −2.1% in January 2002.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why hours instead of just counting jobs?
Because employers change hours first. A restaurant that loses customers cuts shifts weeks before it cuts staff; a consultancy stops overtime before it lays anyone off. Total hours are the number of jobs times the hours per job, so they catch both. Ahead of the eight recessions since 1970, total hours turned down before services jobs did in seven.