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) was -10.0 in July 2026, compared to -8.0 in June 2026.
Sample. There are 189 observations overall in the monthly time series displayed in the plot above. The series covers the span of time stretching from February 2010 to July 2026.
History. Here's a snapshot of some descriptive statistics calculated on the entire sample: the diffusion index averaged -3.5; it reached a maximum of 12.0 in February 2010; it registered a minimum of -29.0 in June 2019.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-05-31 | 0.0 |
| 2026-06-30 | -8.0 |
| 2026-07-31 | -10.0 |
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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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