Federal Reserve Economic Data

Inflation rates can vary quite a bit across the world, from hyperinflation to zero or even below zero. But is there anything systematic about these differences among countries?

To begin to look into this question, we created the FRED graph above to display average inflation rates across four categories of countries based on their income: low, lower middle, upper middle, and high.

We gain two quick and easy observations:

• The richer the economy, the lower the inflation.
• The richer the economy, the more stable the inflation.

But this simple exercise can’t establish causality, so we’re left with more questions:

• Does a healthy economy lead to beneficial inflation outcomes?
• Do high incomes lead to low and stable inflation?
• Do other forces drive, separately, incomes and inflation, such as sound economic and monetary policy, a diversified economy, and a strong state that can enforce its laws?

Find research on this topic among our St. Louis Fed publications, FRASER digital archive, and Fed in Print.

How this graph was created: Search FRED for “inflation low income.” From the graph, click “Edit Graph” and then open the “Add Line” tab to search for “inflation lower middle income.” Repeat with “inflation upper middle income” and “inflation high income.”

Suggested by Christian Zimmermann.

On July 19, 2025, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the second quarter data for total nonfarm employees at the state and metro levels. At the state level, 36 states experienced positive job growth and 14 experienced job losses. Texas led all states in job growth, adding 46,800 jobs in the second quarter. New Jersey had the largest decline, losing 10,700 jobs.

The FRED map above shows the change in employment in each state during the second quarter. If you sum up the individual states, you’ll see a net gain of 316,100 jobs (0.20% growth). This is different from the reported number for the nation, which was 449,000 (0.28% growth). This difference occurs because the state level has different sampling and tends to have a larger margin of error than the national number.

At the metro level, 216 areas experienced job growth and 155 experienced job losses or no change in employment. Employment increased by 197,000 jobs across all metro areas. The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA led the nation with 18,900 jobs added in the second quarter. The Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis MSA had the largest decline, losing 7,800 jobs in the second quarter. These numbers tend to vary greatly from quarter to quarter, with even greater sampling errors than the errors at the state and national levels. So, be careful not to read too much into these data.

NOTE: These data are subject to future revision by the source, with an annual revision the following March. Our ALFRED database records vintages of the data, so users can view the data as they appeared at various points in history. The link takes you to employment for Missouri, as of July 19, 2025.

How these maps were created: Search FRED for “total nonfarm employees in Missouri” (or any other state). Click “View Map” and then “Edit Map.” Change the units to “Change, Thousands of Persons” and the frequency to quarterly with aggregation method “End of Period.” Under “Format,” select “User Defined Method” for how to group the data: Switch the number of color groups to 3 and change the colors to red for states that shed jobs (or a value less than or equal to 0), light green for states with modest job growth (or less than 10), and dark green for states with strong growth (or a value large enough to incorporate the rest of the states). For the second map, repeat the process with an MSA—St. Louis, for example.

Suggested by Jack Fuller and Charles Gascon.

Nitrogen-based agricultural fertilizers are key for high crop yields. Between 2021 and 2024, a broad range of global supply shocks resulted in large swings in their price. Today, we go farther back in time to discuss how geopolitical conflict and technological innovation completely reshaped this industry during the first decades of the 20th century.

Our FRED graph above shows the wholesale dollar price of 100 pounds of sodium nitrate traded in New York between 1913 and 1939. This chemical compound is a key input in the industrial production of agricultural fertilizer and also munitions.

Sodium nitrate is also known as “Chilean saltpeter” because it’s present in mineral form in high-desert deposits in Chile and Peru. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, those mines were the largest sources of sodium nitrate.

High demand for munitions during World War I helps explain why the price of sodium nitrate more than doubled between 1914 and 1918. But, because the international trade in Chilean saltpeter was interrupted during the war, industrial alternatives were developed and widely adopted. This alternative supply of nitrates (synthesized from ammonia) quickly lowered the price. By 1933, this commodity traded at half its pre-WWI price, making the Chilean mines unprofitable.

For even more history…

Our FRASER economic archive includes a Fed bulletin from 1922 that describes conditions in Chile:

“The decreased production of nitrate has resulted in serious unemployment in Chile… At the request of some of the more important nitrate producing companies, a law designed to meet the recent difficulties of the nitrate situation was passed in September 1921. Under this law, companies engaging to keep open their plants may receive Government credits secured by nitrate stocks…”

How this graph was created: Search FRED for and select “Wholesale Price of Soda, Nitrate for New York.”

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.