Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Capacity utilization: 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. According to survey data about manufacturers based in the Fifth District, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for capacity utilization (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was -13.0 in September 2025, versus -3.0 in August 2025.
Sample. There are 259 observations overall in the monthly time series displayed in the figure above. The time range covered by the series is from January 1997 to September 2025.
History. Here's a snapshot of some summary statistics calculated on the full sample: the diffusion index recorded its highest level of 32.0 in March 2004; it reached a trough of -43.0 in February 2008; it averaged -0.4.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | -13.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | -3.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | -13.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did capacity utilization 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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