Tech Pulse Index
1995 to present

In March 2008, the real Tech Pulse Index grew at an annualized rate of 17.8%, which is below its growth rate of 23.9% over the past 12 months.  The nominal Tech Pulse Index grew at an annualized rate of 12.3% in March, which is below its growth rate of 16.8% over the past year. Recent data on shipments, employment, and consumer spending have contributed to downward revisions of the growth rate of the index for previous months relative to its historical trend.

Background The Tech Pulse Index is a summary statistic that tracks the health of the technology sector of the economy in a timely manner. The Tech Pulse Index is computed monthly from a number of data series that move with the technology sector as a whole. The series used to compute the index are investment, consumption, employment, industrial production, and shipments in the technology sector. Please note that each month's numbers differ from those published in prior months and in the Current Issues article because we have additional data which changes the information we use for estimating previous periods. Each month's numbers will be released on the second Wednesday of that month.

Next release: May 14, 2008

For more information, see:
Taking the Pulse of the Tech Sector: A Coincident Index of High-Tech Activity
By Bart Hobijn, Kevin J. Stiroh and Alexis Antoniades, Current Issues in Economics and Finance 9 (10), Oct 2003

For further questions, contact Bart Hobijn (212) 720-5740 or Allison Mirkin (212) 720-8255.