Final answer:
The unemployment rate is a key lagging economic indicator, which helps in confirming long-term trends. The CPI is a measure of inflation, distinct from the PPI, International Price Index, Employment Cost Index, and GDP deflator, which all serve different purposes in measuring different aspects of economic performance.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct answer to which of the following is considered to be one of the key lagging economic indicators is a. Unemployment rate. Lagging indicators become apparent only after the economic activity has occurred. They are helpful in confirming long-term trends but are not predictive.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the most commonly cited measure of inflation in the United States and is used to calculate U.S. inflation rates. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employs several methods to avoid biases in the CPI, such as frequently updating the basket of goods and services, using quality adjustments to account for changes in product features, and using hedonic regression techniques.
The CPI is different from other inflation measures such as the Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures the average change in selling prices received by domestic producers for their output, the International Price Index, which measures the price changes of U.S. exports and imports, the Employment Cost Index, a measure of inflation based on wages paid in the labor market, and the GDP deflator, a measure of inflation based on the prices of all the components of GDP.