Research
BPEA | 1981 No. 2Measuring Unemployment
Lawrence H. Summers
Lawrence H. Summers
Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus
- Harvard University
Lawrence H. Summers
Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus
- Harvard University
1981, No. 2
THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE is probably the most closely watched
economic indicator in the United States. Discretionary fiscal, monetary,
and public employment policies all respond to it. And especially in times
of recession, economists, policymakers, and the public are extraordinarily
attentive to its monthly variations. The importance of the unemployment
rate thus makes essential an understanding of its monthly fluctuations.