logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2023
18m 29s

Indicator exploder: jobs and inflation

NPR
About this episode
When someone says "the economy is doing well"—what does that even mean? Like, for workers, for employers, for the country as a whole? According to what calculation? How do you put a number on it?

The world of economics is filled with all sorts of "measuring sticks." GDP. Inflation. Unemployment. Consumer sentiment. Over time, all kinds of government agencies, universities and private companies have come up with different ways to measure facets of the economy. These measures factor into all kinds of huge decisions—things like government policy, business strategies, maybe even your personal career choices or investments.

On today's show, we're going to lift the curtain on two of these yardsticks. We are going to meet the people tasked with sticking a number on two huge measures of our economic well being: the official U.S. government inflation report and the monthly unemployment and jobs numbers. Come along and see how the measures get made.

This episode was hosted by Darian Woods, Stacey Vanek Smith, and Wailin Wong. It was produced by Julia Ritchey and Jess Kung with help from James Sneed. Engineering by Gilly Moon and James Willetts. It was fact-checked by Michael He and Corey Bridges, and edited by Kate Concannon and Viet Le. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in
Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Oct 8
Two ways AI is changing the business of crime (Two Indicators)
Pre-order the Planet Money book here for your free gift. Our sister show, The Indicator, is chronicling the evolving business of crime for its Vice Week series. Today, we bring to you two cases of crime in the age of AI. First, cybercriminals are using our own voices against us. ... Show More
19m 39s
Oct 4
BOARD GAMES 2: Making our prototype
It’s here! It’s free to download and playtest! It’s the Planet Money game! (Download here.)Download and playtest the game go here Sign up for the 11/1 virtual AMA event and get updates about the gameSubmit your feedback on the gameWatch the how-to video with Kenny and Elan for pl ... Show More
35m 41s
Oct 1
BOARD GAMES 1: We're making a game
We want to make a board game. It must, of course, teach the world about economics. It must be fun. It’d be nice if it sold lots of copies! How hard could that be!? (Monopoly and Catan are hugely popular and basically little economy simulators, after all.)Well, turns out, it’s qui ... Show More
32m 17s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2023
How Governments Lie About The Economy
On today’s show we are talking about some of the tricks that bureaucrats use to manipulate the inflation metrics that are being used to decide monetary policy. The cost of money affects the cost of virtually everything we buy. So the power to manipulate the economy and affect the ... Show More
6m 26s
Feb 2022
What the Heck Is Going on With the U.S. Economy?
Should we be celebrating a Biden boom? Lamenting inflation and its consequences? Both?We know how to talk about booms, like the ’90s. We know how to talk about busts, like after the financial crisis. We know how to talk about stagnation. What we don’t know how to talk about is co ... Show More
1 h
Jan 2024
Higher wages, fewer temp workers and indicators of the year results
The U.S. economy added a solid number of jobs, the unemployment rate held steady, and a lot of people got raises. But, today we ask whether fewer temporary workers could mean recession, and whether higher wages might cause interest rates to stay high. Related episodes: The Indica ... Show More
9m 27s
Apr 2023
US economy slows in the first quarter of 2023
The US economy grew 1.1% in the year to March, down from 2.6% in the previous quarter. American consumers kept spending despite inflation, contributing to GDP expansion. But growth slowed down as businesses pulled back on investment and hiring. We hear from experts and businesses ... Show More
50m 23s
Sep 2023
Economics, boosternomics and Swiftnomics
For this week's Indicators of the Week, Darian is joined by NPR colleagues Jeff Guo and Sydney Lupkin. We get into the latest numbers on child poverty in the U.S. and what it tells us about effective policy intervention. Sydney brings an update on the new covid booster and who's ... Show More
9m 21s
Nov 2022
Bonus Episode: Understand the Economy
Tim Harford brings you the first episode of his new podcast, Understand the Economy. If you’ve been missing his dulcet tones, here’s a chance for you to have a preview of Tim Harford’s latest podcast, in which he offers really simple explanations to help make sense of the economy ... Show More
14m 32s
Jun 2022
Small Business Inflation, and Sign-Up Bonuses
Inflation is hitting everyone’s budgets — including those of small-business owners. To kick off this episode, Sean and Liz talk about how inflation is impacting small businesses, and how you can still shop local as prices climb.Then they answer a listener’s question about the sma ... Show More
28m 47s
Jun 2024
The Economic Theory That Explains Why Americans Are So Mad
There’s something weird happening with the economy. On a personal level, most Americans say they’re doing pretty well right now. And according to the data, that’s true. Wages have gone up faster than inflation. Unemployment is low, the stock market is generally up so far this yea ... Show More
1h 31m
Jul 2023
A different way to understand the US economy
Under “normal” circumstances, economists and analysts study a variety of specific indicators to understand what’s happening with the US economy. But lately, those indicators have been sending mixed signals. The FT’s US financial commentator Robert Armstrong explains why they’re w ... Show More
22m 21s