Economic data or
economic statistics may refer to
data (quantitative measures) describing an actual
economy, past or present. These are typically found in
time-series form, that is, covering more than one time period (say the monthly
unemployment rate for the last five years) or in
cross-sectional data in one time period (say for consumption and income levels for
sample households). Data may also be collected from
surveys of for example individuals and firms or
aggregated to sectors and industries of a single economy or for the international economy. A collection of such data in table form comprises a
data set.