Ready-made assignment · Economics
Economics chart assignment
Six charts of official U.S. data on prices, jobs, pay, interest rates and debt, for a lesson on how the economy is measured and what moves it.
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Post this link in Google Classroom, Canvas or Moodle. Students see every chart below with its questions, source and date; they don't need an account.
Chart 1 of 6 · Inflation
How fast are US prices rising?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
The inflation rate was 3.7% in September 2026: how much consumer prices changed from the same month a year earlier. Each point makes that comparison, back to 1914, the first year BLS can compare. Inflation peaked at 23.7% in June 1920 and at 14.8% in March 1980; the 9.1% of June 2022 was the highest since 1981. Prices fell as fast as 15.8% a year in 1921 and 10.7% in 1932. BLS collected no prices in October 2025, during a lapse in federal funding, so that month and October 2026 are missing.
How to read this chart
Each point compares consumer prices in a month with the same month a year earlier. A value of 3 means things cost about 3% more than a year before; below zero means prices fell. The chart shows how fast prices change, not how high they are.
Questions to discuss
- Find two times when inflation was highest. What was happening in the country then?
- If inflation falls from 8% to 3%, are prices going down, or just rising more slowly?
- Find a stretch when the line is below zero. Why might falling prices be bad news for workers and businesses?
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (CPI-U, all items) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Sep 30, 2026
Open the chart and its numbersChart 2 of 6 · Inflation
How much have US consumer prices risen since 1913?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
Consumer prices in September 2026 were 34 times their level in January 1913, when the Consumer Price Index begins: what cost $1 then cost about $34 in 2026. They were 2 times their level of January 2000. The index tracks what a typical basket of goods and services costs city households, with 100 as its 1982–84 average. Prices fell after 1920 and again in the early 1930s. October 2025 is missing because BLS collected no prices that month, during a lapse in federal funding.
Questions to discuss
- What did something that cost $1 in 1913 cost in the newest year on the chart?
- The line rises almost every year. In which stretch did it rise fastest, and what was happening then?
- Why do economists compare prices with an index instead of with the price of one thing?
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (CPI-U, all items) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Sep 30, 2026
Open the chart and its numbersChart 3 of 6 · Jobs and wages
What is the US unemployment rate?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
4.1% of the US labor force was unemployed in October 2026, against 4.4% in September 2025. Since the monthly rate began in 1948 it peaked at 14.8% in April 2020, at the start of the pandemic, and was lowest at 2.5% in May 1953. October 2025 is missing because a lapse in federal funding stopped the survey.
Questions to discuss
- Find the highest point on the chart. What happened in the economy that month?
- Each recession pushes the rate up. How long does it usually take to come back down afterward?
- Someone who has stopped looking for work isn't counted as unemployed. How could that make the rate look better than things are?
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Oct 31, 2026
Open the chart and its numbersChart 4 of 6 · Interest rates
What is the federal funds rate?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
The federal funds rate averaged 3.88% a year in October 2026, down from 4.09% in October 2025. It is the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans, which the Federal Reserve steers to speed up or slow down the economy. It peaked at 19.1% in June 1981 and was near zero from December 2008 to 2015 and from April 2020 to March 2022. The series begins in July 1954.
Questions to discuss
- When was the federal funds rate highest, and when was it near zero?
- The Federal Reserve raises this rate to slow inflation. Compare this chart with the inflation chart. Do you see that pattern?
- How could a change in this rate affect what a family pays for a car loan or a mortgage?
Source: Federal Reserve Board, H.15 Selected Interest Rates (monthly averages) (Public domain (Federal Reserve Board; cite the Board as the source)) · Data as of Oct 31, 2026
Open the chart and its numbersChart 5 of 6 · Jobs and wages
Which kinds of jobs pay the most in the US?
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In May 2025 the typical (median) management job paid $126,520 a year, 3.6 times the $35,050 of the typical food preparation and serving job. Across all occupations the median was $50,980. Each bar is one of the 22 major groups BLS uses to classify jobs; half the workers in a group earn more than its median and half earn less.
Questions to discuss
- Which kind of job pays the most, and about how many times more than the lowest-paid kind?
- These are medians, the middle worker in each group. Why might a median say more than an average about pay?
- What besides pay (training, hours, demand for workers) could explain the gaps between these jobs?
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of May 31, 2025
Open the chart and its numbersChart 6 of 6 · Federal budget
How big is the federal debt compared with the economy?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
At the end of fiscal 2026 the federal debt was 125% of a year's GDP, everything the U.S. economy produces in a year. It fell from 96% in 1948 to a low of 32% in 1981, passed 100% in 2013 and jumped to 126% in 2020. This is total debt, including what the government owes its own trust funds, divided by GDP over the same fiscal year; it starts in 1948 because BEA's quarterly GDP starts in 1947, and recent GDP figures are revised.
How to read this chart
Each point divides the federal government's total debt by GDP, everything the U.S. economy produces in a year. At 100%, the debt equals one year of the whole economy's output. Comparing debt with the economy's size, instead of in dollars, makes years decades apart fair to compare.
Questions to discuss
- When was the debt smallest compared with the economy, and when was it largest?
- The debt can grow in dollars while this percentage falls. How is that possible?
- Pick a big jump on the chart. What events could make the government borrow much more in a short time?
Source: U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data, Historical Debt Outstanding; GDP from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (NIPA Table 1.1.5) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Sep 30, 2026
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