Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Number of employees: 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 number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was 8.0 in September 2026, compared to 20.0 in August 2026.
Sample. There are 395 records in the monthly time series shown in the graph above. The series covers the time range stretching from November 1993 to September 2026.
History. Take a look at a few summary statistics calculated on the entire sample: the diffusion index reached its lowest level of -21.0 in February 2009; it recorded a maximum of 53.0 in July 2021; it had a mean of 10.6.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 15.0000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 20.0000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 8.00000 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will the number of employees 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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