Bureau of Labor Statistics in the context of "Mid-Atlantic States"

An economic indicator is a statistic about an economic activity. Economic indicators allow analysis of economic performance and predictions of future performance. One application of economic indicators is the study of business cycles. Economic indicators include various indices, earnings reports, and economic summaries: for example, the unemployment rate, quits rate (quit rate in American English), housing starts, consumer price index (a measure for inflation), inverted yield curve, consumer leverage ratio, industrial production, bankruptcies, gross domestic product, broadband internet penetration, retail sales, price index, and changes in credit conditions.

The leading business cycle dating committee in the United States of America is the private National Bureau of Economic Research. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the field of labor economics and statistics. Other producers of economic indicators includes the United States Census Bureau and United States Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The Mid-Atlantic is a region of the United States located in the eastern part of the country. Traditional definitions include seven U.S. states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the national capital of Washington, D.C.

Depending on various factors, different regional divisions exist however: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in its newest regional division excludes New York from the region; the U.S. Census Bureau excludes Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia from the region; USGS defines the region by watersheds thus additionally including North Carolina; the EPA excludes both New York and New Jersey; the U.S. Maritime Administration excludes upper New Jersey and New York; the Office of Small Business Programs of the U.S. Department of Defense excludes New York. When discussing climate, Connecticut is sometimes included, since its climate is closer to the Mid-Atlantic than the rest of the New England region.

The United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a family of various consumer price indices published monthly by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The most commonly used indices are the CPI-U and the CPI-W, though many alternative versions exist for different uses. For example, the CPI-U is the most popularly cited measure of consumer inflation in the United States, while the CPI-W is used to index Social Security benefit payments. The CPI is not the only measure of prices, with a related component being the Personal consumption expenditures price index (PCI) price index, which measures a more broad set of goods and services, among other differences.

Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) is a database maintained by the Research division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis that has more than 816,000 economic time series from various sources. They cover banking, business/fiscal, consumer price indexes, employment and population, exchange rates, gross domestic product, interest rates, monetary aggregates, producer price indexes, reserves and monetary base, U.S. trade and international transactions, and U.S. financial data. The time series are compiled by the Federal Reserve and many are collected from government agencies such as the U.S. census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Waiting staff (BrE),, waitstaff, waiters (MASC) / waitresses (FEM), or servers (AmE) are those who work at a restaurant, a diner, or a bar and sometimes in private homes, attending to customers by supplying them with food and drink as requested. Waiting staff follow rules and guidelines determined by the manager. Waiting staff carry out many different tasks, such as taking orders, food-running, polishing dishes and silverware, helping bus tables, entertaining patrons, restocking working stations with needed supplies, and handing out the bill.

Waiting on tables is part of the service sector and among the most common occupations. In the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that, as of May 2023, there were about 2.2 million people employed as servers in the country.

A computer operator is a role in IT which oversees the running of computer systems, ensuring that the machines, and computers are running properly. The job of a computer operator as defined by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics is to "monitor and control ... and respond to ... enter commands ... set controls on computer and peripheral devices. This Excludes Data Entry."

Income in the United States is measured by the various federal agencies including the Internal Revenue Service, Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Commerce, and the US Census Bureau. Additionally, various agencies, including the Congressional Budget Office compile reports on income statistics. The primary classifications are by household or individual. The top quintile in personal income in 2022 was $117,162 (included in the chart below). The differences between household and personal income are considerable, since 61% of households now have two or more income earners. Median personal income in 2020 was $56,287 for full-time workers.

This difference becomes very apparent when comparing the percentage of households with six figure incomes to that of individuals. Overall, including all households/individuals regardless of employment status, the median household income was $67,521 in 2020 while the median personal income (including individuals aged 15 and over) was $35,805.

Personal income is an individual's total earnings from wages, investment interest, and other sources. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a median weekly personal income of $1,196 for full-time workers in the United States in Q2 2025. For the year 2024, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the median annual earnings for all workers (people aged 15 and over with earnings) was $51,370; and more specifically estimates that median annual earnings for those who worked full-time, year round, was $63,360.

Income patterns are evident on the basis of age, sex, ethnicity and educational characteristics. In 2005 roughly half of all those with graduate degrees were among the nation's top 15% of income earners. Among different demographics (gender, marital status, ethnicity) for those over the age of 18, median personal income ranged from $3,317 for an unemployed, married Asian American female to $55,935 for a full-time, year-round employed Asian American male. According to the US Census, men tended to have higher income than women, while Asians and Whites earned more than African Americans and Hispanics.