misery index

American  

noun

1. an unofficial indication of a nation's economic health, derived by adding the percentage rate of inflation to the percentage of unemployed workers.

   With inflation running at 15 percent and unemployment at 8 percent, the misery index is 23 percent.

---

Etymology

Origin of misery index

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

Last year, respondents to a long-established survey were far more likely to report having heard bad economic news than respondents in 1980, even though the so-called misery index — the inflation rate plus the unemployment rate — was almost twice as high back then.

From Seattle Times

Extreme weather, heat, and floods are driving up the world’s misery index; Threads is taking social media by storm; and we got fast cars.

From Slate

A few months ago I looked at the “misery index” — the sum of unemployment and inflation, originally suggested by Arthur Okun as a quick-and-dirty summary of the state of the economy.

From Seattle Times

And as I noted even then, the misery index seemed to be declining.

From Seattle Times

In parts of Los Angeles County, a 15-day outdoor watering ban amplified the misery index for about four million customers of the Metropolitan Water District as crews made planned repairs to a pipeline that carries water from the Colorado River to Southern California.

From New York Times