Macroeconomics Research Paper

Introduction

There are a lot of aspects that come with the United States economy. This research paper will probe the solidity of the economy throughout the United States with the use of data, graphs, and statistics. Therefore particularly take a closer look at the gross domestic product, the trade in goods and services, employment and unemployment, and certainly not least the CPI.

Gross Domestic Product

GDP is short for Gross Domestic Product. Which is the goods produced and services provided in a total of one year in the country.

This is used as a tool for understanding the health of our economy in the way that it shows the production a person makes every year. It also shows company’s total value. You can see there’s plenty of ups and downs. In the beginning of 2001 you see an increasment from 1% to almost 4%. From 2005 to 2009 there was plumenting which caused the GDP to drom to almost -3%. In just one year there was a major increase which brought the GDP to almost 3%, From there, after 2010 there pretty much steadiness.

With obviously little ups and downs, but nothing major. I think that our economy currently will continue to fluctuate, unless there are major changes in our economy.

Trade in Goods and Services

The trade balance tells us our economy’s calculation of the country’s exports minus our imports. It is used as a tool for understanding the health of our economy because it is the balance of payments in our country.

The graph form helps us see the trend of the trade balances and lets us know if it is increasing or decreasing. It has points where there are increases but ultimately it is all decreasing. Based on the information I think our economy will increase and then decrease once again. Therefore having major fluctuations on and off, because of how it has been going since 1992.

Employment and Unemployment

I do see a pattern between the civilian labor force rate and the unemployment rate. If you actually flip the unemployment rate graph it is very similar to the civilian labor force participation rate, with of course one distinction which is at the end of the graph. The pattern between both graphs are that they both have a significant decline after 2010. With of course the difference is that in civilian labor force there is steadiness from 2015 and so on. Whereas in the unemployment rate graph there is only decrease after 2010, but did have an increasement from 2008 to 2009. The fluctuate of numbers in the civilian labor force rate mean that they are rising and falling irregularly. Although the sum of civilian employment and civilian unemployment equals the civilian labor force. This tells me that the unemployment rate has been constantly decreasing since 2010. Those who have no job and are also not looking for one are currently not included in the labor force.

The pattern for those who work full time over the years provided show that from 2010 there was been more employed, which are the numbers increasing per year. I am assuming because they stay long term at their job, keeping them employed. The pattern for those who work part time over the years show constant fluctuation throughout the years. You also see that there are a significant more amount of people who are employed part time. The unemployment rate does take into consideration the people who have lost full time work and are now working part time jobs. You can see this in the difference of numbers between both graphs. The changes from full time to part time work affect the economy because of the unsteadiness that there is. There are not as much full time employed workers as there is part time employed workers.

Those who are not included in the labor force are the people who are going to school or are retired, as well as those who are neither employed or unemployed. If everyone over 16 years of age was included in the labor force there would be unsteadiness and fluctuations. The way the the unemployment rate is calculated I feel is very complicated and all over the place, nonetheless thorough. I feel that the unemployment rate is an accurate indicator of our countries unemployment rate because it is thorough and includes every aspect.

Consumer Price Index

CPI is short for consumer price index, which is the United States economy inflation guide. This tool is used for understanding the health of our economy, in the sense that it focuses on the products that consumers use on a daily basis and also the ones that are bought by them. Such as the ones shown on the graph like energy, food, beverages, and all other items. The pattern that I see between the “All Items” graph and the graphs that are related to food and energy are that they all either stay somewhat steady with little fluctuation from 2008 to 2017. You also see percentages decrease in 2008. Assuming because the black market crash that occurred in 2008. They all also show a major percentage decrease in the year of 2017. The only major difference I see is between the “all items” graph and the “energy” graph. Which is that the “energy” graph shows more decreasement than the others. All within 4%. Based on the information provided, I think our economy is not headed in a good direction currently because of the percentage decrease happening since 2017, with no sight of increasing since then.

Conclusion

While looking at all of the graphs you can semi conclude how the United States economy is taking place, taking into thought that not all significant data is being considered. You can see that for the most part our economy is staying at steady growth and there are not major changes going on. The only part that is significant is the employment and unemployment. The major difference is the amount of people between the full time employed and the part time employed. You can conclude that the future will be in good since the unemployment rate has shown significant decrease the past few years. As per usual our economy will fluctuate because it cannot be absolutely perfect. This paper showed a greater look at United States economy as a whole, since this is what macroeconomics is all about.