The Importance Of Economic Indicators In Business

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Economic indicators play a large role in the home building economy. "An economic indicator is simply any economic statistic, which indicates how well the economy is doing and how well the economy is going to do in the future" (Moffatt, 2008). As Assistant Manager of Corporate Planning, it has been shown that production of mid-range priced homes slightly lags economic cycles on an average of about six months. Three important economic indicators that play a role in this process are the unemployment rate, gross domestic product (GDP), and the inflation rate. The leading key economic indicators along with the past four economic quarters and the next four economic quarters will aid in the forecasting and planning for the up coming year. "The gross domestic product (GDP) is one of the measures of national income and output for a given country’s economy. GDP is defined as the total market value of all final goods and services produced within the country in a given period of time (usually a calendar year). It is also considered the sum of value added at every stage of production (the intermediate stages) of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time, and it is given a money value. gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 0.9 percent in the first quarter of 2008, according to preliminary estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 0.6 percent" (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2008). "Federal budget receipts are projected an increase $178.8 billion in fiscal year 2009" (Benjamin & Vargo, 2008). “Cyclical unemployment occurs when the unemployment rate moves in the opposite direction as the GDP growth rate. So when GDP growth is small (or negative) unemployment is high” (Moffatt,

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