Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Availability of skills needed: 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. According to survey data about manufacturers collected by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for the availability of skills needed (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) stood at -2.0 in November 2025, compared to 4.0 in October.
Sample. There are 181 data points in the monthly series presented in the figure above. The series covers the period extending from February 2010 to November 2025.
History. Here's a peek at some statistics computed on the full sample: the diffusion index attained a maximum of 12.0 in February 2010; it reached its lowest level of -29.0 in June 2019; it was equal on average to -3.4.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-09-30 | -2.0 |
| 2025-10-31 | 4.0 |
| 2025-11-30 | -2.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will the availability of skills needed 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) |
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