Who Wants to Know? Consumer Expenditures

"How much did you spend on ice cream last year? If you read my recent blog post, you’ll know the average household spends $54.04 each year. Last week I explained why that information matters to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and to the researchers, business owners, lawmakers and many others who use our data every day. Today I’d like to take another dive into some of the data we collect.

The BLS Consumer Expenditure Interview and Diary surveys ask lots of questions about households’ spending and the characteristics of all the family members, and then publishes updated tables every six months. Why does BLS collect so much information, and who uses it?

Let’s take a look at some of the questions the surveys ask (and if you’re thinking that some of these questions sound a little personal, you’ll be glad to know that all the answers are kept completely confidential)..."

Consumer Expenditures

Personal Consumption Expenditures by State, 1997-2014

"Today, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released its first set of official statistics on personal consumption expenditures (PCE) by state for 1997-2014 1 . PCE by state – the measure of goods and services purchased by or on behalf of households by state of residence – provides insight into household spending patterns across states and can be used together with other regional data to gain a better understanding of regional economies.
PCE by state statistics are released for 16 expenditure categories; eight categories of goods, seven categories of services, and the net expenditures of nonprofit institutions serving households. The statistics are reported in current dollars and reflect variation in both prices and quantities..."
Personal consumption

How do U.S. expenditures compare with those of other countries?

"In Japan, consumers spent more than 17 percent of every yen on groceries, more than twice the 8.3 percent of every dollar that Americans spent. In the United States, households spent almost 7 cents of every dollar on health care, compared with just 1.4 pence of every pound in the United Kingdom. This article compares how consumers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan allocated different shares of total spending to categories such as food, housing, and transportation in 2009. Such variation can be expected, given differences in cultural tastes, the relative availability of goods and services, and institutional factors, such as government regulation and tax laws, among those countries. As shown in chart 1, housing and health care shares of total expenditures were higher in the United States than in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan in 2009, whereas Americans had the lowest clothing (or apparel) share. Canada had the highest clothing and transportation shares, and Japan had the highest food share, among the countries compared..."

2010 Annual Capital Expenditures

"These data, based on the 2007 North American Industry Classification System, estimate business spending in 2010 for new and used structures and equipment at the sector level, as well as for three-digit and selected four-digit industries. The data provide the private sector, especially the business community, with a relevant, timely and accurate measure of current business conditions..."