Fifth District Survey of Non-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 Non-Manufacturing Activity (Richmond FED)
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. Based on a sample of nonmanufacturing firms surveyed by the Fed, the seasonally unadjusted diffusion index for the number of employees (share of CEOs seeing a future increase minus share forecasting a decrease) was 17.0 in September 2026, compared to 18.0 in August 2026.
Sample. This monthly series has 190 records. The series covers the time span extending from December 2010 to September 2026.
History. Have a look at a few summary statistics we computed on the full sample: the diffusion index reached its lowest level of -9.0 in May 2020; it attained a maximum of 49.0 in May 2021; it had a mean value of 21.4.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Percentage points |
|---|---|
| 2026-07-31 | 21.0000 |
| 2026-08-31 | 18.0000 |
| 2026-09-30 | 17.0000 |
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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) |
| Other information | Not available |
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