Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Number of employees: 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 firms' responses to the Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity carried out by the Richmond FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 5.0 in September 2026, compared to -3.0 in the previous month.
Sample. There are 395 records overall in the monthly time series shown in the graph above. The time period covered by the series is from November 1993 to September 2026.
History. Here's a snapshot of some statistics computed on the entire sample: the diffusion index had an average value of 1.1; it recorded a bottom of -43.0 in February 2009; it achieved a maximum of 37.0 in July 2021.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 4.00000 |
| 2026-08-31 | -3.00000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 5.00000 |
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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 | 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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