FRED – Federal Reserve Economic Data

Listen to this article

FRED® is an excellent resource for all things economic. It is maintained by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. They describe the site as one that “offers a wealth of economic data and information to promote economic education and enhance economic research.”

FRED® has numerous data categories including banking, employment, population, exchange rates, gross domestic product, U.S. Financial data, and regional data. Most categories delineate sub-groups to improve access. As an example, the Business/Fiscal category includes subsections entitled “Employment Cost Index,” “Industrial Production,” and “Retail Sales.”

Once a section/category is selected, the researcher will be presented with a listing of available reports. The list includes the report title, observation range, frequency, when last updated, as well as other items.

Choosing a particular report produces a data page. A great feature is that each report clearly identifies its source. An example is provided below:

The value of the site is not only the charts and information, but the ability to download the data in an Excel spreadsheet. In addition, the “view data” link will provide a detailed summary.

Users can also create an account to receive updates on specific data series.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/