This post defines two metrics related to unemployment: Average Wage and Wage Growth Change. Both metrics are displayed on the Presidential Effectiveness Dashboard.
Average Wage Schema:
| Attribute | Explanation |
| Metric Name | Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees (Average Wage) |
| Version | 1.0 |
| Status | Final |
| Fundamental Objective | Promote a Strong Economy |
| Child Objective | Raise American Wages |
| Description | Average Age is the median value of the hourly wage for all Americans on payroll. |
| Audience | Voters, Economists |
| Question | What is the average hourly earnings of all American employees? |
| Answer | A monetary value expressed as dollars and cents. |
| Formula | Average Wage = Sum(Hourly Wage for Each American Employee) / Count(Americans who Are On Payroll) |
| Units | Dollars |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Targets | TBD |
| Sources | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (LINK) |
| Visualization | Summary Dashboard: Sparkline x-axis: Time (Month) y-axis: Average Wage Detailed Drill-Down: Line Graph x-axis: Time (Month) y-axis: Average Wage |
New Jobs Change Schema:
| Attribute | Explanation |
| Metric Name | Wage Growth |
| Version | 1.0 |
| Status | Final |
| Fundamental Objective | Promote a Strong Economy |
| Child Objective | Raise American Wages |
| Description | Wage Growth measures the change in the Average Wage from the start to the finish of a Presidential administration. If an administration has not yet ended, Wage Growth measures the change in Average Wage from the start of an administration to the present. |
| Audience | Voters, Economists |
| Question | During the X Administration, what is the percentage change in the Average Wage? |
| Answer | A percentage. A positive value indicates that the Average Wage has increased between the start of Administration X and either the present (if X is the current administration) or at the end of Administration X (if X is a prior Administrations). A negative value indicates that the Average Wage has decreased between the start of Administration X and either the present (if X is the current administration) or at the end of Administration X (if X is a prior Administrations). A value of “0” indicates no change at all in the Average Wage during an administration. |
| Formula | Wage Growth = ( (Average Wage at present or end of administration) – (Average Wage at start of administration) ) / (Average Wage at start of administration) |
| Units | Dimensionless (percentage) |
| Frequency | Monthly (until end of an Administration) |
| Targets | TBD |
| Sources | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (LINK) |
| Visualization | Icon: if positive, green up arrow; if equal to zero, black equal sign (‘=’); and if negative, red down arrow Text: Percentage with one decimal place (example: -2.1%) |
Data-Driven Politics 