Data Points: New resources and other noteworthy developments

Fed Doubles Its Forecast Frequency:  Citing its push to improve public understanding of its policies, the Federal Open Market Committee announced Nov. 14 that it will release economic growth, unemployment, and inflation projections four times a year rather than twice.  Also, the FOMC will extend its forecast horizon to three years from two. The FOMC published its first quarterly “Summary of Economic Projections” as part of the minutes of its Oct. 30-31.  See page 9 in the minutes at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/fomcminutes20071031.pdf

Tracking Labor Force Churning: In late October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released details from its new research series on labor force status flows from its monthly current population survey.  BLS plans to update three data sets every month.  For details go to: http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_flows.ht

Compensation by Occupation:  The Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Nov. 8 its report on “Occupational Earnings in the United States, 2006” based on data from its National Compensation Survey.  See the full report at: http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ncswage.htm

Comparing Key Inflation Measures: Given the keen interest in how the two inflation measures track, the Bureau of Economic Analysis will add to its quarterly gross domestic product report a reconciliation of changes in its personal consumption expenditures price index and the consumer price index, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The quarterly feature will become part of the GDP report starting with the release of fourth quarter 2007 data in late January 2008.  The latest report shows the PCE/CPI gap shrinking.  See details in a recent article in BEA’s Survey of Current Business at: http://www.bea.gov/scb/pdf/2007/11%20November/1107_cpipce.pdf

Quarterly GDP By Industry: Expanding on its research, the Bureau of Economic Analysis expects to complete development work for quarterly estimates of GDP by industry during fiscal 2009 and begin testing procedures for conducting annual revisions. Assuming that funding is provided, the agency plans to begin releasing quarterly estimates in fiscal 2010.  For details see a background paper by BEA economist Robert Yuskavage at: http://www.bea.gov/about/pdf/yuskavage_qtrly_gdp_ind_paper.pdf

Metro Area Data on Economic Growth:  In its first release of prototype measures of GDP by metropolitan areas, the Bureau of Economic Analysis invited data users to evaluate and comment on the data.  BEA cited strong interest in development of metro area estimates in its Sept. 26 report covering urban areas with a population of at least 50,000.  See the report at: http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/gdp_metro/2007/pdf/gdp_metro0907.pdf