Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity: Wages: Future (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 wages (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share reporting a decrease) was 39.0 in January 2026, compared to 45.0 in December 2025.
Sample. There are 347 records overall in the monthly series shown in the figure above. The time range covered by the series extends from January 1997 to January 2026.
History. Here's a glimpse of some summary statistics calculated on the full sample: the diffusion index achieved a maximum of 73.0 in December 2021; it reached a minimum of 0.0 in April 2020; it had a mean of 37.2.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2025-11-30 | 35.0 |
| 2025-12-31 | 45.0 |
| 2026-01-31 | 39.0 |
Nugget of wisdom. We group time series into worksheets and datasets to make our users' life easier. If you look below, you will discover how we structured further material linked to the statistics published here.
Not for investment purposes. Financial data released on FetchSeries are not meant for investment purposes or as a basis for making financial decisions. Users should consult expert advice and perform independent analysis before pledging money to any investment.
Series Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Description | Diffusion index for the question: Will wages 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 | 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.