Unemployment and inflation are just the goals. The Fed uses an entire list of leading, trailing, and coincident indicators and surveys fed through multiple teams of economists to determine the state of the economy.
The news slices it all down to Unemployment rate and inflation because it takes a half hour to begin to explain all the indexes, and each Fed board members take on each one. And people have other shit to talk about on the news.
Unemployment and inflation are just the goals. The Fed uses an entire list of leading, trailing, and coincident indicators and surveys fed through multiple teams of economists to determine the state of the economy.
The news slices it all down to Unemployment rate and inflation because it takes a half hour to begin to explain all the indexes, and each Fed board members take on each one. And people have other shit to talk about on the news.