Glossary Terms:

One of many choices or courses of action that might be taken in a given situation.

Any activity or organization that produces or exchanges goods or services for a profit.

Unemployed people who have given up looking for work and are therefore not counted as part of the labor force.

An increase in real output as measured by real GDP or per capita real GDP.

The study of how people, firms and societies choose to allocate scarce resources with alternative uses.

Economic units that demand productive resources from households and supply goods and services to households and government agencies.

The natural rate of employment; generally considered to be about 93-95 percent of the labor force, allowing for frictional unemployment of 5-7 percent.

Something a person or organization plans to achieve in the future; an aim or desired result.

Individuals and family units that buy goods and services (as consumers) and sell or rent productive resources (as resource owners).

Payments earned by households for selling or renting their productive resources. May include salaries, wages, interest and dividends.

A practice or arrangement whereby a company provides a guarantee of compensation for specified forms of loss, damage, injury or death. People obtain such guarantees by buying insurance policies, for which they pay premiums. The process allows for the spreading out of risk over a pool of insurance policyholders, with the expectation that only a few policholders will actually experience losses for which claims must be made. Types of insurance include automobile, health, renter's, homeowner's, disability and life.

A piece of work usually done on order at an agreed-upon rate. Also a paid position of regular employment.

The quantity and quality of human effort available to produce goods and services.

The people in a nation who are aged 16 or over and are employed or actively looking for work.

The labor supply and labor demand curves. The intersection of the labor supply and labor demand curves determines the equilibrium wage and the quantity of hours people work at this equilibrium wage.

Economic variables such as the prime interest rate, labor cost per unit of output, inventories to sales ratio and unemployment duration that tend to change after real output changes.

Places, institutions or technological arrangements where or by means of which goods or services are exchanged. Also, the set of all sale and purchase transactions that affect the price of some good or service.

A process of manufacturing, growing, designing, or otherwise using productive resources to create goods or services used to to satisfy a want.

The amount of output (goods and services) produced per unit of input (productive resources) used.

A decline in the rate of national economic activity, usually measured by a decline in real GDP for at least two consecutive quarters (i.e., six months).

Activities performed by people, firms or government agencies to satisfy economic wants.

The level of subsistence of a nation, social class or individual with reference to the adequacy of necessities and comforts of daily life.

The amount of a good or service that producers are willing and able to offer for sale at each possible price during a given period of time.

The exchange of goods and services for money or other goods and services.

The number of people without jobs who are actively seeking work.

The number of unemployed people, expressed as a percentage of the labor force.

Payments for labor services that are directly tied to time worked, or to the number of units of output produced.

Effort applied to achieve a purpose or result, often for pay; skills and knowledge put to use to get something done; employment at a job or in a position; occupation, profession, business, trade, craft, etc.

People employed to do work, producing goods and services.