Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Availability of skills needed: Current (increase vs decrease; diffusion index; percentage points; seasonally unadjusted) - 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 a sample of manufacturing firms surveyd by the FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for the availability of skills needed (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was -3.0 in September 2025, versus -13.0 in August 2025.
Sample. There are 136 data points in the monthly series presented in the chart above. The series covers the period stretching from February 2010 to September 2025.
History. Here are a few simple statistics calculated on the full sample: the diffusion index achieved a maximum of 8.0 in February 2010; it hit a trough of -45.0 in May 2021; it had a mean of -7.7.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | -1.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | -13.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | -3.0 |
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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 | No |
| 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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