Fifth District Survey of Non-Manufacturing Activity: Average wages: 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 Non-Manufacturing Activity (Richmond FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. Based on a sample of nonmanufacturing firms surveyed by the Fed, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for average wages (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 18.0 in September 2026, versus 23.0 in August 2026.
Sample. There are 395 records overall in the monthly series presented in the chart above. The series covers the time span going from November 1993 to September 2026.
History. Here’s a quick look at some simple statistics we calculated on the whole sample: the diffusion index averaged 18.9; it reached its lowest level of -8.0 in March 2009; it reached its highest level of 48.0 in February 2022.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 18.0000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 23.0000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 18.0000 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did average wages 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) |
| Other information | Not available |
Series in the same data set
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