Marginal URLs:
- p. 241: Go to http://stats.bls.gov/ to find out how fast wages are adjusting. Click on "Employment Costs," and then click on "Employment Cost Index."
- p. 230: Go to http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/ to learn about how the price level has changed during recent years. Then click on "Gross Domestic Product and Components" (for GDP deflators) or "Consumer Price Indexes."
Issues and Applications—Web Resources:
Economics on the Net:
Wages, Productivity, and Aggregate Supply
How much firms pay their employees and the productivity of those employees influence firms' total planned production, so changes in these factors affect the position of the aggregate supply curve. This application gives you the opportunity to examine recent trends in measures of the overall wages and productivity of workers.
Title: Bureau of Labor Statistics: Economy at a Glance
Navigation: Use http://www.bls.gov/ to visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site.
Application: Perform the indicated operations, and answer the following questions.
- Click on Employment Costs, and then click on Employee Cost Index. What are the recent trends in wages and salaries and in benefits? In the long run, how should these trends be related to movements in the overall price level?
- Back up to the home page, and click on Productivity and Costs and then PDF next to "Economic News Releases: Productivity and Costs." How has labor productivity behaved recently? What does this imply for the long-run aggregate supply curve?
- Back up to U.S. Economy at a Glance, and now click on Unemployment Rate, and then PDF next to "Economic News Releases: Employment Situation Summary." Does it appear that the U.S. economy is currently in a long-run growth equilibrium?
