Beige Book
A compilation of economic conditions from each of the 12 Federal Reserve districts. Data are anecdotal and qualitative, rather than quantitative, in nature. This book is produced before the monetary policy meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Consumer Price Index
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average price level of a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by consumers. Monthly changes in the CPI represent the rate of inflation.

Employment Cost Index
A measure of total employee compensation costs, including wages and salaries and the costs of benefits. The employment cost index (ECI) is the broadest measure of labor costs.

FOMC Meeting
The Federal Open Market Committee consists of the seven Governors of the Federal Reserve Board and five Federal Reserve Bank presidents. The FOMC meets eight times a year in order to determine the near-term direction of monetary policy. Changes in monetary policy are announced immediately after FOMC meetings.

Humphrey-Hawkins
In the 1980s and 1990s, legislation required that the Federal Reserve Board would provide a semi-annual report to Congress on the state of the economy and targets for growth, inflation, unemployment rate and monetary aggregates. The Federal Reserve chairman would then testify to House and Senate Banking Committees in February and July. While this legislation expired, the Fed still provides semi-annual reports to Congress and the Fed chairman continues to testify before Senate and House Committees, not just in February and July, but throughout the year.

PCE Deflator
The PCE (personal consumption expenditure) deflator draws data extensively from the consumer price index. However, it reflects changes in the composition of spending as well as changes in prices of goods and services. As a result, this is a variable-weight, rather than a fixed-weight basket of goods, and is less prone to upward bias.

Pool of Available Workers
This is equal to the number of unemployed workers plus those not in the labor force who report that they want a job now. Both figures are now seasonally adjusted; the total number is calculated by Haver Analytics.

Productivity and Costs
Productivity measures the growth of labor efficiency in producing the economy's goods and services. Unit labor costs reflect the labor costs of producing each unit of output. Both are followed as indicators of future inflationary trends.

Unemployment Rate
The unemployment rate measures the number of unemployed as a percentage of the labor force.