Economic Indicators
Dates
May 7 – 18, 2012
Application deadline
April 7, 2012
Tuition
$3,800
Participants
This seminar is designed for economists, statisticians,
analysts, researchers, and others who need to understand economic indicators.
Participants should have knowledge of basic statistics and some experience in
analyzing labor or social data.
Objectives
To identify key economic indicators and understand how they are used to
track an economy by:
- Learning how indicators signal change in the direction of the economy or
economic activity
- Distinguishing between leading, lagging, and coincident indicators
- Understanding the relationship different indicators have to the business cycle
and to each other
Program content
Timely and sound economic data are of critical importance to policymakers, the
business community, consumers, and investors. Economics information helps a wide array
of people assess how well an economy is performing and guides decision making. What are
economic indicators? What is their significance? How should they be interpreted? This
seminar is an introduction to key economic indicators and how they are used. In depth
discussion on how to construct the various indicators is not provided in this seminar.
The following BLS economic indicators and topics will be presented in this seminar.
Meetings with other U.S. national statistical organizations will be included to discuss
indicators such as national accounts, industrial production, the money supply and
interest rates, manufacturing and trade sales, and agricultural output.
Employment and Unemployment
- Data on employed persons and the unemployment rate provide a vital snapshot of the strength
of a labor market. The seminar will discuss national indicators as well as the value of local
area unemployment statistics. A range of measures of labor underutilization also will be presented.
Job Openings and Labor Turnover
- Data on job openings, hires, quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations are valuable
indicators that measure worker flows. The number of unfilled jobs—used to calculate the job openings
rate—is an important measure of the unmet demand for labor. With this statistic, it is possible to
paint a more complete picture of a labor market than by looking solely at the unemployment rate,
a measure of the excess supply of labor. Information on labor turnover is valuable in the proper
analysis and interpretation of labor market developments and as a complement to the unemployment rate.
Business Employment Dynamics
- Business Employment Dynamics statistics track changes in employment at the establishment level
or job flows, revealing the dynamics underlying net changes in employment. These data include the
number and rates of gross jobs gained at opening and expanding establishments, as well as the number
and rates of gross jobs lost by closing and contracting establishments.
Wages and Labor Costs
- Wages, earnings, and benefits account for a substantial part of a country’s national income and
are closely linked to the economic cycle. Determining levels and trends of pay rates by occupation,
industry, locality, and region is important in the analysis of current economic developments.
The seminar also will discuss indexes that measure the change over time in labor costs
(Employment Cost Index) and data measuring the level of average costs per hour worked
(Employer Costs for Employee Compensation).
Prices
- Price indexes, indicators of the rates of inflation in a country’s economy, also serve as a
tool for adjusting wages, salaries, and other income payments to keep in step with rising prices.
The seminar will address the importance of Consumer Price Indexes, Producer Price Indexes, and
Import and Export Price Indexes.
Productivity and Unit Labor Costs
- Productivity is one of the major determinants of the standard of living, since increases
in productivity can result in higher real income and increased price stability. Measures of
productivity and unit labor costs are important signals of international competitiveness.
Seasonality
- Over the course of a year, prices and the levels of employment and the associated job flows may
undergo sharp fluctuations due to such seasonal events as changes in the weather, reduced or
expanded production, harvests, major holidays, and the opening and closing of schools. The effect
of such seasonal variation can be very large. In many countries these seasonal events follow a
more or less regular pattern each year, so adjusting these statistics from quarter to quarter can
eliminate their influence. These adjustments make non-seasonal developments, such as declines in
economic activity, easier to spot. The adjusted figure provides a more useful tool with which to
analyze changes in economic activity.
Apply now
Last modified: March 29, 2012
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