Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Availability of skills needed: 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 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 unadjusted diffusion index for the availability of skills needed (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was -7.0 in February 2026, versus -9.0 in January 2026.
Sample. This monthly time series has 184 data points overall. The time range covered by the series extends from February 2010 to February 2026.
History. Here’s a quick look at some descriptive statistics calculated on the whole sample: the diffusion index had an average value of -3.5; it hit a maximum of 14.0 in May 2020; it hit a trough of -30.0 in May 2021.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | -6.0 |
| 2026-01-31 | -9.0 |
| 2026-02-28 | -7.0 |
Heads-up. Our metadata often contain references to the sources of the data we provide. You can use these references to find additional information.
Not for investment purposes. Any data shared on FetchSeries are not not supposed to be used for investment purposes or other financial decisions. Users should obtain expert advice and do independent analysis before taking any financial risk.
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 | 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) |
Series in the same data set
Discover the other time series included in this data set.