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, compared to -11.0 in August.
Sample. This monthly time series has 290 records overall. The span of time covered by the series stretches from January 1993 to September 2025.
History. Here's a glimpse of a few descriptive statistics we calculated on the whole sample: the diffusion index was equal on average to 1.0; it achieved a maximum of 33.0 in July 2021; it reached its minimum of -33.0 in March 2001.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | -16.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | -11.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | -15.0 |
Suggestion. One of the pluses of using our web site is that we give you rich metadata. Check it below to learn more about the attributes of the indicators that you use in your work.
Not for investment purposes. Any data provided on FetchSeries are not suitable for investment purposes or other financial decisions. Users should ask for expert advice and perform their own independent due diligence before taking any financial risk.
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) |
Series in the same data set
Discover the other time series included in this data set.