misery index

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of misery index¹

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

One simple measure of the state of the economy is the “misery index,” the sum of unemployment and inflation; this index got worse during Biden’s first 18 months as inflation shot up, then improved greatly.

From Seattle Times

Democrats’ views fell as the misery index rose, then rose as the index fell.

From Seattle Times

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

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

From Seattle Times