That’s the theory anyway. I’ve reviewed their sales for the past five years though, and these numbers continue to be very seasonal, in spite of the adjustments.

When I googled the term the first hit was this explanation from the Government of New Brunswick, Canada.

Seasonally adjusted data represents data that have been modified to account for seasonal fluctuations. One of the reasons for seasonal adjustments is that it allows us to compare data from one month to another. Labour force statistics are based on data collected monthly. Therefore annual events such as crop cycles, climate, holidays, vacation periods and students looking for summer employment can make them vary abnormally.

Actual data are simply data captured during the survey and that have not been adjusted for seasonal variations.

Thanks for all of the hard work you put into the site. Just a quick question: what does “seasonally adjusted” mean? It’s not quite clear to me.

-exits