Name:   architect - Subject:   Stats That Matter Date:   9/9/2016 10:54:27 PM (updated 9/9/2016 10:58:45 PM)

The statistics you mention are important, but for them to be meaningful and better understood they need to be refined and expanded

1/  The number or the percentage of people in the workforce would be more meaningful if they included a breakdown on the number not looking for work because they no longer wish to work compared with the number not looking because they have given up...I think the results might be very instructive.

2/  The national debt is a critical statistic, but it only becomes truly informative when it is expanded to include the annual rate of increase and whether that trend is up or down, the debt as a percentage of GDP and the comparative rate of increase or decrease in each, and the trends in tax income compared to expenditures.

The GDP, quarterly economic growth or lack thereof, unemployment rate, the number of new jobs each month, retail sales, corporate profits and investments, government deficits or surpluses, the number of home sales and home starts, inflation, interest rates, etc etc are all important bits of info, but they all are more than just a number.  For any of them, looking at the internals and between the lines information make them more meaningful in understanding what they are supposedly recording.