Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Availability of skills needed: Future (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 a sample of manufacturing firms surveyd by the FED, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for the availability of skills needed (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) stood at -2.0 in September 2025, compared to -12.0 in August 2025.
Sample. There are 136 records overall in the monthly series displayed in the chart above. The series covers the period stretching from February 2010 to September 2025.
History. Here's a peek at a few statistics computed on the whole sample: the diffusion index had an average value of -3.2; it recorded a minimum of -29.0 in June 2019; it achieved a maximum of 12.0 in February 2010.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | 2.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | -12.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | -2.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will the availability of skills needed increase or decrease over the next six months? |
| Country | United States |
| Economic concept | Business survey response |
| Data type | Leading 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) |
Series in the same data set
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