Tips for Covering and Localizing Economic Stories.

contributed by Brooks Jackson

Realize these stories have real interest ? Business is what most all do for a living. The economy is the weather forecast for the prices we pay, the taxes we pay, and the money we make.

Don?t confuse anecdote with data. USE good anecdotes to ILLUSTRATE the real economic story. (see below for sources of solid statistics.)

First be sure what the real story is. Is this economy good, bad or average compared to historical averages? Are ?record? gasoline prices really that high when inflation is accounted for?

Casting: to find that ?typical? family or individual, cultivate local financial planners, credit counselors, tax preparers. ?Who wants to be on TV??

Interpreting: to make sense of the numbers, find a stable of cogent, neutral economists who can explain things in English.

Know the ?experts? you are dealing with, and be sure your viewers do too. Is the Economic Policy Institute liberal, neutral or conservative? What about the Tax Foundation? (Hint: Labor funds one, corporations fund the other.)

Places to Get Economic Facts & Figures

Jobs and Consumer Prices
http://www.bls.gov/

Know difference between Household Survey & Establishment Survey

Household: Current Population Survey (CPS) is 60,000 households surveyed monthly, produces Unemployment Rate and demographic information such as teen unemployment.

Establishment Survey: Current Employment Statistics (CES) 400,000 business establishments that supply monthly payroll data. Produces Total Nonfarm Employment figure (total jobs) as well as employment by industry, hours worked, wage data.

Tip:  Always use “seasonally adjusted” data unless making 12-month comparisons.

Tip:  Use “Get Detailed Statistics” and “Create Customized Tables” to extract data:

• Example:  Total Nonfarm Employment during Clinton and Bush administrations
• Example:  Price of regular gas vs. ½ gallon of milk (Which is the more dramatic story?)

Tip: For Consumer Prices always use CPI-U All City Average, Seasonally Adjusted

Gross Domestic Product, disposable income, savings rate
http://www.bea.gov/

US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis

Tip: Always use “real” (inflation adjusted) figures.

Tip: GDP is only reported quarterly, but gets revised two times

Tip: Highly abstract. Find a non-ax-grinding, English-speaking economist or two to explain.

Household income, poverty
http://www.census.gov/

Examples:

• Income by state:  http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/income02/statemhi.html
• Median Household Income In September, Census will release 2003 figures.

Stories for September:

• Did Median Income bounce back in 2003 after declining 3.4% during the recession? (1999-2002)
• What about AFTER TAX income? (Have Bush tax cuts cushioned the shock?  Tip: Use definition 1b for after-tax income. Accept no imitations.)
• What states did best? How did your state do? How did Presidential “battleground” states do?

Prices of oil, gas, gasoline, coal, electricity

Go to “By Fuel” “Petroleum (Gasoline)” and scroll down to “retail prices” for prices in YOUR CITY or YOUR STATE OR REGION.

Also: “Prices: Retail City Average” for historical data.

Tip: Gasoline prices released 5pm each Monday (except when a government holiday)

Where to get REAL price of gasoline (adjusted for inflations):