Fifth District Survey of Non-Manufacturing Activity: Average wages: Future (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. According to survey data about nonmanufacturing firms based in the Fifth District, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for average wages (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was 51.0 in September 2026, the same value recorded in August.
Sample. The monthly series presented in the figure has 190 records overall. The series covers the time range going from December 2010 to September 2026.
History. Here's a snapshot of some descriptive statistics we computed on the whole sample: the diffusion index had an average value of 39.9; it recorded a minimum of 0.0 in May 2020; it attained a maximum of 71.0 in January 2022.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 42.0000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 51.0000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 51.0000 |
Suggestion. A benefit of our data visualization and download service is that we publish accurate metadata. Check them below to delve deeper into the attributes of the time series that you are exploring.
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will average wages 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 | 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 |
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