One example of indicators is a series constructed with the aid of indexed search volumes from Google for a number of words and themes related to unemployment. The series is highly correlated with the unemployment statistics produced by Statistics Sweden, but is available in real time. Another example is price data made available by Pricerunner, which is a Swedish comparison shopping website. The price series are not entirely comparable to the ones calculated by Statistics Sweden at monthly frequency, since they are based on different data and constructed in different ways. However, these real-time data provide useful insights on the development of prices. The database also contains data from Swedbank, that provide access to aggregate turnover from daily card transactions in Sweden, both online and in shops. Other examples of data are: indicators of new ads in Hemnet, restaurant bookings from BokaBord, electricity consumption, flight price growth and indicators related to Corona tweets from Peltarion. 

The data are available here.

Paola Di Casola*

Sveriges Riksbank

 Posted by Maria Perrotta Berlin

*The opinions expressed in this post are the sole responsibility of the author and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of Sveriges Riksbank.