Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Number of employees: 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 recent survey data about manufacturing firms in the Fifth District, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was 1.0 in September 2025, versus -4.0 in the previous month.
Sample. There are 290 data points overall in the monthly time series displayed in the graph above. The series covers the time range extending from January 1993 to September 2025.
History. Here's a glimpse of some statistics we computed on the full sample: the diffusion index hit a maximum of 52.0 in July 2021; it recorded a bottom of -21.0 in February 2008; it averaged 10.5.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | -12.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | -4.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | 1.0 |
Suggestion. For our users' convenience, we organize indicators into data sets and worksheets. If you look below, you will discover how we arranged further information linked to the statistics published here.
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will the number of employees 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) |