Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Wages: Current (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. Based on firms' responses to the Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity carried out by the Richmond FED, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for wages (share of CEOs seeing a recent increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 11.0 in September 2025, compared to 20.0 in August 2025.
Sample. The monthly series shown in the chart has 259 observations in total. The series covers the time period extending from January 1997 to September 2025.
History. Take a look at some summary statistics computed on the entire sample: the diffusion index had a mean value of 14.4; it reached a trough of -11.0 in February 2008; it hit a maximum of 49.0 in August 2021.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-07-31 | 13.0 |
| 2025-08-31 | 20.0 |
| 2025-09-30 | 11.0 |
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Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Did wages 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 | 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) |