Why is Tracking Real GDP Important? 

Real GDP is important because it is highly correlated with other measures of economic activity, like employment and unemployment. 

When real GDP rises, so does employment.

The most significant human problem associated with recessions (and their larger, uglier cousins, depressions) is that a slowdown in production means that firms need to lay off or fire some of their workers. 

Losing a job imposes painful financial and personal costs on workers, and often on their extended families as well. In addition, even those who keep their jobs are likely to find that wage raises are scanty at best—or their employers may ask them to take pay cuts.

We call the highest point of the economy, before the recession begins, the peak. Conversely, the lowest point of a recession, before a recovery begins, is the trough. Thus, a recession lasts from peak to trough, and an economic upswing runs from trough to peak. We call the economy's movement from peak to trough and trough to peak the business cycle. 

Back to:ECONOMIC ANALYSIS & MONETARY POLICY

Related Topics

• Macroeconomics
• Macroeconomic Frameworks
• Macroeconomic Policy Tools
• Productivity Economics
• One-Third Rule
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
• Durable and Non-Durable Goods
• Weightless Economy
• Intermediate and Final Goods or Services
• Nominal GDP
• Converting Nominal to Real GDP
• GDP Inflator
• Nominal GDP Price Index
• Measuring GDP
  
• Gross National Product
• Net National Product
• Factor Income
• Gross National Income
• Expenditure Method
• The Problem of Double Counting GDP
• Double Counting
• Why is Tracking Real GDP Important? 
• Convert Currencies with Exchange Rates
• Convert GDP to a Common Currency
• Per Capita GDP
• GDP Per Capita
• GDP as a Measure of Society Well-Being
• Limitations of GDP as a Measure of the Standard of Living