the headline macroeconomic data for the us economy can be confusing following an inspiring 69 real gdp growth rate in q4 2021 the economy contracted by 16 in the first quarter and 06 in the second quarter of 2022 despite this setback labor markets were still doing exceptionally well although the unemployment rate rose slightly to 37 percent in august it can be actually considered a ‘good’ signal as both the labor participation rate and net new employment increased real gdp and unemployment are such broadbased numbers that they often do not provide a good depiction of the whole picture especially when they are painting different scenarios of the underlying economic activity so we gathered and analyzed some interesting alternative data for a microscopic view of what is really happening under the surface in the us economy transportation is a great barometer of economic health and in particular the health of the labor market while it’s obvious for daily commuting and business travel it also applies to recreational travel in general unemployed people tend to travel less due to mental and financial stresses so studying transportation data can offer interesting insights scan the above qr code for more expert analysis of market events and trends driving opportunities today the global pandemic has significantly affected transportation among all modes of transport air travel was hit the hardest while the average number of daily transportation security administration tsa throughput at us airports was 23 million in 2019 this number dropped to its lowest point on april 14 2020 at 87534 only 4 percent of its typical prepandemic level now as more people are fully vaccinated and the unemployed rate has been slashed dramatically the 30day moving average is standing at 225 million one legacy of the pandemic is the workfromhome culture although the influence of covid19 is steadily fading away in many aspects people seem to enjoy the flexibility of remote working according to a recent survey released by mckinsey in june 2022 35 and 23 of employed respondents are allowed to work remotely in a fulltime  parttime basis respectively now nyc subway weekday ridership is 60 of its level before the pandemic considering a portion of people optout of public transportation since the pandemic this subway data supports the survey’s findings and again indicates a healthy labor market interestingly the ridership at weekends recovered about 10 better than weekdays this suggests that social activities and personal consumption are coming back even stronger and the economy is in good shape now let’s switch gears to the restaurant industry which contributes to 4 of total gdp according to us bureau of labor statistics bls food and beverage serving workers alone account for roughly 45 million jobs during the pandemic restrictions and concerns played an important role in the reduction of seated diners although takeout and deliveries compensated some of the loss there are caveats one of the key roles of onpremise dining is generating employment opportunities moreover when people go out for dinner they tend to spend money on goods and other recreational activities as well during the pandemic we have observed a couple of ups and downs reacting to the covid situation but since march this year the number of seateddiners according to popular restaurant reservation system open table stood quite stable at around the precovid level this stimulates the labor market and indicates the confidence of consumers a more straightforward indicator of economic health is spending among all types of inperson nonbill payments 31 is done with credit cards opportunity insights a harvard university research facility releases credit card spending data on a monthly basis in the chart despite the existence of zigzags we see a clear upward trend since the trough in 2020 the 91day moving average which stands for the recent trend is over 115 of the prepandemic level just higher than the inflation rate from this perspective the economy is healthy one interesting alternative database is gps location nowadays people carry their smart phones everywhere they go among all places grocery stores tell a lot about the economy the less time people spent in grocery stores the less nonessential goods are consumed from 2020 to 2022 we had three notable troughs associated with covid19 episodes but since may 2022 the time spent in grocery stores has come back to where it was before the pandemic this is a sign that interest on discretionary products is back again further supporting the spending data our look at alternative data – from air travel to commuter traffic from dining out to shopping in grocery stores – tends to side with the unemployment rate data rather than the real gdp view of the economy that is there is considerable evidence that the economy has returned to a healthy state following the pandemic shock activity is progressing on many fronts suggesting a steady state growth path for the us economy rather than an economy that is either rebounding from the pandemic as it was in 2021 or unusually fragile as suggested by the real gdp data