Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Number of employees: Current (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 based in the Fifth District, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was -15.0 in September 2025, versus -11.0 in the previous month.
Sample. There are 290 data points overall in the monthly series displayed in the chart above. The series covers the span of time extending from January 1993 to September 2025.
History. Here's a peek at some statistics we computed on the whole sample: the diffusion index averaged 1.0; it hit a peak of 33.0 in July 2021; it registered a minimum of -33.0 in March 2001.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | -16.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | -11.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | -15.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did the number of employees 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 | 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) |