Post 15

Leading indicators are things that change before the economy does. For example:

1.     Average weekly hours of manufacturing

2.     Average weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance

3.     Stock prices

Lagging indicators are the opposite of leading indicators; they change after the economy does. For example:

1.     Unemployment

2.     The value of outstanding commercial and industrial loans

3.     The change in labor cost per unit of labor output

Coincident indicators occur directly with the economy. For example:

1.     Income

2.     GDP

3.     Manufacturing and trade sales

Leading, lagging, and coincident indicators are all indicators of economic change. There are many examples of each indicator, but I have picked what I think are the top three.