GDP and other hard data are more comprehensive and focus on the past. While anecdotal evidence is more fickle, but can show early signs of an economic shift.

Next week's May jobs report is expected to show steady employment growth and continued low unemployment.

A proposed rule affecting federal workers “opens the door” for reporting data in ways that don’t align with established norms.

If the rule goes into effect, it could be harder for economists at the Bureau of Labor Statistics — who are anxious about losing their jobs — to deliver bad news.

Data doesn’t always show a full picture. Example: Functional unemployment was 23.3% in January — very different than the 4% headline figure.

The two groups, which existed for decades, gave expert advice to federal data scientists and played a role in government transparency.

Tariffs, major weather events and even political bias have obscured trends and challenged experts to figure out the takeaways.

Economic researcher Ruveyda Nur Gozen analyzed 3,589 women-owned manufacturing businesses from the 1800s.

Real wages also grew. To some extent, productivity growth offsets the inflationary effect of pay gains.

Unemployment is near record lows, GDP is growing, inflation has been trending down, wages are up. But in spite of it all, people are feeling bad.