Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Availability of skills needed: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally adjusted) - United States - Richmond FED - Monthly
This series is part of the dataset: Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity (Richmond FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. Based on firms' responses to the Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity carried out by the Richmond FED, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for the availability of skills needed (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was -2.0 in September 2025, versus -13.0 in the previous month.
Sample. There are 136 records overall in the monthly series presented in the graph above. The period covered by the series extends from February 2010 to September 2025.
History. Take a look at a few summary statistics computed on the whole sample: the diffusion index reached a maximum of 7.0 in February 2010; it reached a minimum of -41.0 in May 2021; it had a mean value of -7.3.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | 7.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | -13.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | -2.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did the availability of skills needed 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 Richmond |
| 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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