Federal Reserve Economic Data
Frequently Asked Questions
FRED in Action Videos
What’s the Link between Education and Unemployment? How Has Job Growth Changed Since the Great Recession? Is the economy performing to its potential? Have Wages Kept Up with Inflation?
Posted in Frequently Asked Questions
What Formulas are Used to Calculate Growth Rates?
Note that because FRED uses levels and rounded data as published by the source, calculations of percentage changes and/or growth rates in some series may not be identical to those in the original releases. The following formulas are used: Change: … Continue reading
Posted in Understanding the Data, Frequently Asked Questions
What Dates Are Used for the U.S. Recession Bars?
FRED uses business cycle turning points determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) for recession shading on graphs. Although recessions may end before the NBER determines the official end date, FRED graphs will continue to display shading for … Continue reading
Posted in Understanding the Data, Frequently Asked Questions
Contact Us
If you have questions about the data in the FRED® database, please send us an email. We are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Central Time, and respond to all email inquiries within two business days.
Posted in Contact Us, Frequently Asked Questions
Save Your Graphs
A (free) FRED account allows you to save all the graphs you create. You can choose whether you want them to automatically update as new data are released. To save a graph, click the “Account Tools” button below the graph. … Continue reading
Customize Data, Add Series to Existing Line
You can create a customized formula to combine two series on one graph line. To do so, above the graph, click the “EDIT GRAPH” button. In the pop-up box that appears, click the “EDIT LINE” tab. (If you have more … Continue reading
Add a Data Series to Graph
Above the graph, click the “EDIT GRAPH” button. In the pop-up box that appears, click the “ADD LINE” tab. Click the text box and type keywords for the series you want to add. A list of the most popular suggestions will … Continue reading
What is the Date Format?
All dates are represented as daily dates for consistency and ease of use. FRED uses a single date format widely supported by various spreadsheet applications (Excel, Lotus, etc.) and statistical software packages (SAS, Eviews, Stata, RATS, etc.). Because annual, quarterly, and … Continue reading
Posted in Understanding the Data, Frequently Asked Questions
