But indicators of demand for labor are beginning to turn higher, albeit from low levels.
Here, for example, is a group of indicators of demand for NHS services in England, collated by Prof John Appleby, of independent health think tank the King's Fund.
We anticipated including studies that reported on various indicators of demand such as tenure, turnover and intent to leave (either/both the profession/facility) and factors, community-, facility-, or individual- level, associated with each indicator.
Its earnings are a broad indicator of demand for electronics.
The number of searches made on Google for the term 'data' could be a strong indicator of demand for it.
"We are a leading indicator of demand for business schools," said Trent Anderson, vice president and publisher at Kaplan.
Assessing steel demand, in particular, has become a subject of almost obsessive interest among many shipping executives and economists as a barometer of emerging markets' health and as an indicator of demand for things like iron ore and cars.
There have been attempts to bring greater clarity to the process: the International Energy Agency, an association of Western oil-consuming countries, collects and publishes data from its members, as an indicator of demand.
Texas Instruments, based in Dallas, is the biggest producer of analog chips, which go in things as varied as automobiles and digital cameras, making its earnings an indicator of demand for electronics.
With inflation no longer a reliable indicator of demand, they must look elsewhere to keep economies from running hot or cold.Sources"The dog that didn't bark: Has inflation been muzzled or was it just sleeping?", IMF World Economic Outlook Innocent Bystanders?
To the extent that population trends tell us something, they indicate a sharp reversal in the migration trend that prevailed for most of the second half of the 20th century.But of course, population growth is an unreliable indicator of demand, because of the all important supply side of the market.
