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. Based on a sample of manufacturing firms surveyd by the FED, the seasonally adjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was -6.0 in January 2026, compared to -1.0 in December 2025.
Sample. There are 389 records in the monthly series displayed in the chart above. The time period covered by the series extends from January 1993 to January 2026.
History. Here's a glimpse of a few descriptive statistics computed on the full sample: the diffusion index peaked at 33.0 in July 2021; it registered a minimum of -35.0 in February 2009; it had a mean value of 1.1.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-11-30 | -7.0 |
| 2025-12-31 | -1.0 |
| 2026-01-31 | -6.0 |
Heads-up. An advantage of our web site is that we provide complete metadata. Find it below to gain insights on the characteristics of the indicators that you are exploring.
Not for investment purposes. Data and any other information disseminated on FetchSeries are not intended for investment purposes or as a basis for financial-decision making. Users should ask for expert advice and do their own independent due diligence before pledging money to any investment.
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) |
Series in the same data set
Discover the other time series included in this data set.