Manufacturing remains a vital component of the U.S. economy, though its structure has changed dramatically over the last few decades. This session will cover two key reports used to assess the overall health of the U.S. manufacturing sector: Durable goods orders from the U.S. Census Bureau and Industrial Production from the Federal Reserve. The session will also feature a "data user" perspective from a practicing economist who actively monitors trends in U.S. manufacturing. This practitioner will share real-world applications of these two main reports as well as additional sector data, demonstrating how economists can integrate multiple indicators to assess current conditions, identify turning points, and inform forecasting and policy recommendations.

Data Series Include:

• Durable goods orders
• Industrial production
• Manufacturing PMIs
• Manufacturing employment
• Producer Price Indexes

This session will explore two sources of data that provide information on labor force status – with a particular focus on unemployment: the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Local Area Unemployment Statistics Program (LAUS). The CPS provides a wealth of information on the nation’s labor force including the civilian unemployment rate, the labor force participation rate, and employment-population ratios. This session will explore the official definition of unemployment, sometimes referred to as U-3, the duration of unemployment, as well as five alternative measures of labor market utilization, including the concepts of discouraged worker and individuals who are marginally attached. The CPS also provides a wealth of demographic and socio-economic information that allow measurement of unemployment and other concepts by sex, age, race, ethnicity, educational attainment, veteran status, class of worker, occupation, industry, among many others.

The LAUS Program provides data on unemployment rates along with employment, unemployment, and labor force levels for census regions and divisions, states, counties, metropolitan areas, and for cities with populations of 25,000 or greater as well as all cities and towns in New England. Laus estimates are used by a variety of federal programs that allocate billions of dollars to states and localities. These include the job search in training dollars provided under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, and labor surplus area designations, among others.

Data Series Include:

• Employment, unemployment, and labor force
• Unemployment rate
• Discouraged workers
• Marginally attached workers
• Duration of unemployment
• Alternative measures of labor market utilization, U-1 through U-6
• Labor force participation rate
• Employment-population ratio

This session provides participants with a thorough foundation of the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s National Accounts, the cornerstone framework for measuring U.S. economic activity. During this session, an economist from the BEA will provide a detailed overview of the National Accounts, including the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs) and the Industry Economic Accounts. A business economist with extensive knowledge of the accounts will then explain how these data can be used in economic analysis and research. Participants will leave this session with a deeper understanding of the composition and relationship between Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross Domestic Income (GDI), the characteristics of real GDP including chain-type quantity indexes and how inflation-adjusted measures differ from nominal values, step-by-step methodology for calculating contributions to growth and understanding how individual components drive overall GDP changes, and techniques for constructing special aggregates from NIPA components to address specific analytical and research needs.

This session examines U.S. construction activity through the lens of Census Bureau data and industry insights, addressing both residential and commercial sectors. Panelists will examine current challenges facing residential construction, including the impacts of tariffs on building material costs and labor market dynamics. The session will analyze the persistent undersupply of housing in the U.S. market and its implications for housing affordability. The session will also cover emerging patterns in commercial construction, with particular attention to the rapid expansion of data center development and other non-residential building activity. Through a combination of government and private-sector data, participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of how construction activity is measured, the factors influencing current trends, and the outlook for both residential and commercial building in the U.S. economy.

Data Series Include:

• Construction value put in place (Census)
• Producer prices for nonresidential construction
• Residential construction indicators
• Commercial construction indicators

Representing over two-thirds of GDP, consumer spending is the engine that drives much of US GDP growth. The primary measure of consumer purchases of goods and services of people living in the United States is personal consumption expenditures (PCE). BEA produces the foremost measure of spending by U.S. consumers. Of current interest in today’s economy is what types of goods or services are on the rise or are falling in a post pandemic economy.  This session will provide perspective on the measurement of services and sources of data by the BEA. It will also delve into how use BEA, BLS, and other data can be used to understand the health of the consumer across the income distribution and what it means for investing.

This session features two key data sources used in regional analysis: the American Community Survey (ACS) produced by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Regional Economic Accounts produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Participants will learn how the ACS provides detailed demographic, social, economic, and housing information at multiple geographic levels, offering insights into population characteristics, educational attainment, income distribution, employment patterns, and quality of life indicators across communities. A representative from the BEA will then walk panelists through the Regional Economic Accounts, highlighting indicators such as GDP by state and county, state and local area personal income and consumer spending, as well as regional employment data. A regional economist will then demonstrate how these extensive data sets can be applied to analyze and interpret economic and industry trends across states, metropolitan areas, and counties.

Data Series Include:

• Regional accounts from BEA
• American Community Survey
• Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
• Local Area Unemployment Statistics

The US economy is in a constant state of change. Understanding the macroeconomic forces that are at play and the appropriate monetary and fiscal policies that are needed to ensure continued economic growth and prosperity is critical. High quality data are absolutely essential for this purpose. No less essential is the need for trustworthy data to meet the analytical needs and for the day-to-day decisions that are made by policymakers, business leaders, economic developers, nonprofits, researchers, and citizens.

The work of the federal statistical system is critical in providing the needed data. Behind every number is a network of dedicated professionals focused on collecting, measuring, and reporting on the US economy. The dynamic nature of our economy requires that the federal statistical system adapts to the changing landscape by embracing new tools, refining measurement methodologies, and ensuring that the concepts they measure are accurate, relevant, and accessible. Join us for a conversation with senior leaders from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Census Bureau and learn how these agencies are navigating the ever-changing challenges of measuring the dynamic US economy.

In fiscal year 2026, the US federal budget deficit is poised to top $1 trillion for the seventh consecutive year, propelling the gross public debt to over 120% of US nominal GDP. In this session, a US Treasury official will describe the mechanics of financing the annual deficit, focusing on publicly available auction data and other metrics used to evaluate the market for Treasury securities. A second panelist will present new approaches to forecasting future budget deficits – and, by extension, the potential contours of the national debt.

In the world of inflation measurement, it is natural to focus on the impact of rising prices on the consumer. However, before products get to market or services to consumers are performed, the sourcing of inputs, stages of fabrication, transportation of final products, and preparation of services reflect critical stages performed by businesses and the transactions received or resource payments made that incentivize each of those stages. The transactions received by businesses are at the heart of producer price inflation, and the international sourcing of inputs or delivery of final products and services are at the heart of import and export prices. This session will explore the methodological underpinnings of producer and import/export price inflation. It will cover concepts of intermediate and final demand along with measures of inflation associated with production flows across the supply chain.

Data Series Include:

• Producer prices for final demand, final demand goods, and final demand services
• Producer prices for intermediate goods, processed and unprocessed goods, and intermediate services
• Producer prices for intermediate demand by production flow
• Import and export goods and services price indexes
• Fuel and non-fuel import price indexes
• Agricultural and nonagricultural export price indexes
• Import price indexes by locality of origin and destination
• Terms of trade indexes

The world of work is changing rapidly in the US economy. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in the way that advanced information technologies are reshaping our work is performed, the changing nature of occupations, and the disruptions that are anticipated as AI begins to complement and augment tasks in some cases, and serves to displace workers in others. Please join two experts, Anna Wong from Bloomberg in Stephanie Aliaga and J.P. Morgan as they explore the frontier uses of AI and how it is affecting the way in which work is performed in our society.