Labor month in review
The
June Review
Productivity jumps at nonfinancials in 2002
Consumer spending in 2001
Trivia answer
If there is any task more daunting for an official statistical agency than ramping up a new survey program, it is revamping a successful program with a long history. The Current Employment Statistics program has published statistics dated as early as 1909 (6 years before this Review was launched) from what is variously called the "establishment," "payroll," or "790" survey. (How the program came by these sundry names makes a good trivia question.)
In addition to being among the first-released of the principal Federal economic indicators, the Current Employment Statistics data, by whatever name, are used as inputs to a large number of other official statistics ranging from industrial production to personal income. It is indicative of the success of the program that these two series join payroll employment among the most important indicators the National Bureau of Economic Research uses to establish the "official" turning points in the business cycle.
But even so, a successful survey has to be kept up to date. Teresa L. Morisi (on the national estimates) and Molly E. Barth (on State and local data) provide reports on the recently completed, comprehensive renovation of the Current Employment Statistics program. Perhaps the most visible change is the adoption of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). This new tool allows a more nuanced breakdown of the economy抯 industrial composition, especially in the service-providing sector. Also important are the full implementation of probability sampling, the adoption of concurrent seasonal adjustment, and, for State and area data, a regression-based small domain model to make estimates for series for which the raw survey results cannot meet publication criteria.
Pierre Bahizi reports on consumption patterns among retired consumer units. Based on the Consumer Expenditure Interview Survey from the first quarter of 1996 to the first quarter of 2001, this study examines the spending patterns of retired Whites, Blacks, and persons of Hispanic origin. As is so often the case, his report shows that although the subjects may have been close to each other in terms of one or two characteristics such as age and retirement status, they may be far apart once other characteristics and individual tastes are considered.
Productivity jumps at nonfinancials in 2002
Productivity in nonfinancial corporations, as measured by output per hour, grew 5.5 percent in 2002. This followed an increase of 1.4 percent in the previous year. The rise in nonfinancial corporate productivity in 2002 was attributable to output growth of 3.2 percent and to a fall in hours of 2.2 percent. This was the second consecutive annual decrease in employee hours.
The nonfinancial corporate output measure is calculated using data on gross domestic product, excluding the following outputs: general government; nonprofit institutions; employees of private households; the rental value of owner-occupied dwellings; unincorporated business; and financial corporations such as depository institutions. Hours data for labor productivity measures include hours for all persons who are wage and salary workers, self-employed, and unpaid family workers. Additional information is available in "Productivity and Costs, First Quarter 2003," news release USDL 03�2.
Food expenditures increased 3.2 percent in 2001, as spending on food away from home rose 4.6 percent and spending on food at home grew by 2.2 percent. Spending on food away from home had risen just 1 percent in 2000, but the 4.6-percent increase in 2001 was more in line with increases in the past several years�2 percent in 1999, 5.7 percent in 1998, and 5.4 percent in 1997. The rise in spending on food at home was 3.6 percent in 2000. In the prior 3 years, there had been a variety of changes in spending on this category: an increase in 1999, a decrease in 1998, and little change in 1997.
Spending on apparel and services declined 6.1 percent in 2001. The decline followed increases of 6.5 percent in 2000 and 4.1 percent in 1999. Spending fell in all the subcomponents of apparel and services including men抯 and boys� apparel, women抯 and girls� apparel, and footwear.
Consumer spending on housing was up 5.6 percent in 2001, following an increase of 2.2 percent in the previous year. Households spent an average of $13,011 on housing in 2001, almost a third of total expenditures. Increases in spending on shelter (6.9 percent) and on utilities, fuels, and public services (11.2 percent) were primarily responsible for the increase in overall housing expenditures, and offset decreases in spending on house-furnishings and equipment (�9 percent) and household operations (�2 percent). The large increase in spending for utilities, fuels, and public services was the result of increases in spending for electricity (10.7 percent), fuel oil (15.9 percent), and natural gas (33.6 percent). Find out more in "Consumer Expenditures in 2001," (PDF 193K) BLS Report 966.
The CES survey is conducted at business establishments, using information that is generally available from the establishment抯 payroll reports and entered on a form, BLS�i>790.
Communications regarding the Monthly Labor Review may be sent to the Editor-in-Chief by e-mail to mlr@bls.gov, by mail at 2 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Room 2850, Washington, DC, 20212, or by fax to (202) 691–7890.
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