Macroeconomics 5th Edition by Olivier Blanchard

Exercise 2

Go to the Web site of the Bureau of Economic Analysis (www.bea.gov) and retrieve quarterly data on real chained gross domestic product for 2002 and 2003. Go to the Web site of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov) and retrieve data on monthly unemployment rates and monthly employment levels for 2002 and 2003.
a. Was output growth positive throughout 2002 and 2003
b. What happened to the unemployment rate over the period January 2002 to June 2003
c. How do you reconcile your answers to parts (a) and (b)
d. Now consider the employment level. Compare the monthly employment levels from September 2002 and December 2002. What happened to employment over the last quarter of 2002
e. Was output growth positive in the last quarter of 2002
f. How do you reconcile your answers to parts (d) and (e)