United States Congress Joint Economic Committee

JEC Republican WebappSources

UNEMPLOYMENT

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)/Haver Analytics (Haver), data seasonally adjusted

U.S. Official Rate (U-3):
Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force. Data released first Friday of month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
State Rate (U-3):
Same as U.S. U-3 rate; released mid-month.
U.S. "Real" Rate (U-6):
Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force. Persons marginally attached to labor force are currently neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work in past 12 months.
Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR):
Civilian labor force as percent of civilian non-institutional population.

PRICES

Sources: BLS/Haver and American Automobile Association (AAA)

CPI-U Inflation:
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of avg. change over time in prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. The "All Items CPI for All Urban Consumers" (CPI-U) is the broadest and most comprehensive CPI. The percent change shown is over the 12 months ending with the period indicated.
CPI Core Inflation:
Removes volatile energy and food prices from CPI-U, attempting to show underlying or core inflation rate.
State Regular Gas Price/gal.:
Average price per gallon of gas in state, from AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report, updated daily.
Regional Prices:
BLS reports prices for 4 national regions: Northeast, Midwest, South, and West. State data shown is for its region. Average retail food/energy price data released with CPI mid-month. Technical descriptions are: "Bread, White, Pan ($/lb)", "Milk, fresh, whole, fortified, per gal. (3.8 lit)" and "All Uncooked Ground Beef ($/lb)".

ECONOMIC GROWTH

Sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ)/Haver

Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP):
Seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) estimate for most recent quarter from Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA); new quarters released Apr.(Q1), Jul.(Q2), Oct. (Q3), Jan.(Q4); 2nd and 3rd revisions to initial GDP estimate follow monthly.
Real Gross State Product (GSP):
SAAR GSP estimate attributable to each state. Lags 1Q behind GDP. Numbers are provided by BEA but may minutely differ from BEA’s reports due to rounding.

S&P 500 stock index data is current as of date on card, and shows the percent change during the current calendar year.

MINIMUM WAGE

Source: Department of Labor (DOL)

Minimum wage and overtime premium pay standards applicable to nonsupervisory nonfarm private sector employment, under state and federal laws effective as of August 1, 2016. The highest applicable minimum wage for each state is listed. However, some states have lower minimum wages for smaller businesses.