Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Number of employees: 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 number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) stood at -15.0 in September 2025, versus -11.0 in the previous month.
Sample. There are 290 observations in the monthly series displayed in the chart above. The series covers the time span extending from January 1993 to September 2025.
History. Here are a few statistics computed on the full sample: the diffusion index recorded its maximum of 33.0 in July 2021; it reached its minimum of -33.0 in March 2001; it was equal on average to 1.0.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | -16.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | -11.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | -15.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did the number of employees 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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