Editing Economic indicator (section)

=== Lagging indicators ===
Lagging indicators are indicators that usually change after the economy as a whole does. Typically the lag is a few quarters of a year. The unemployment rate is a lagging indicator: employment tends to increase two or three quarters after an upturn in the general economy.{{cn|date=August 2021}}. In a performance measuring system, profit earned by a business is a lagging indicator as it reflects a historical performance; similarly, improved customer satisfaction is the result of initiatives taken in the past.{{cn|date=August 2021}}

The Index of Lagging Indicators is published monthly by [[The Conference Board]], a non-governmental organization, which determines the value of the index from seven components.

The Index tends to ''follow'' changes in the overall economy.

The components on the Conference Board's index are:

* The average duration of [[unemployment]] (inverted)
* The value of outstanding commercial and industrial [[loan]]s
* The change in the [[Consumer Price Index]] for services
* The change in labour cost per unit of output
* The ratio of manufacturing and trade inventories to sales
* The ratio of consumer credit outstanding to personal income
* The average [[prime rate]] charged by banks

[[File:FedfundsCAP.png|thumb|250px|[[Federal Funds Rate]] in the US lagging behind [[capacity utilization]] in [[manufacturing]]]]