Chapter 16.
Consumer Expenditures and Income

Presentation
Information from the Consumer Expenditure Survey is available in press releases, reports, and analytical papers. Microdata from the survey are available on CD-ROM. Data are also available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site on the Internet (http://www.bls.gov/cex) and from the BLS fax-on-demand service. Publications may be obtained through the BLS Office of Publications and Special Studies and the BLS Division of Consumer Expenditure Surveys.

Publications from the Consumer Expenditure Survey generally include tabulations of average expenditures and income arrayed by consumer unit characteristics, such as consumer unit size, age of reference person, or income. Tabulations by two variables (cross-tabulations) are available for selected characteristics, such as age by income or consumer unit size by income. Integrated Diary and Interview Survey data are published on an annual basis and tabulations are available on the BLS Web site back to 1984.

The Diary and Interview Survey microdata that are available on CD-ROM contain files of the expenditure and income reports of each consumer unit. In order to protect the identities of respondents, selected geographic detail is eliminated and selected income and expenditure variables may be reset. The Interview files contain expenditure data in two different formats: MTAB files that present monthly values in an item-coding framework based on the CPI pricing scheme, and EXPN files that organize expenditures by the section of the Interview questionnaire in which they are collected. Expenditure values on the EXPN files cover different time periods depending on the specific questions asked, and the files also contain relevant non-expenditure information not found on the MTAB files. The Interview and Diary microdata files are available on CD-ROM back to 1990 and for selected earlier years.

Articles that include analyses of Consumer Expenditure Survey data are published in the Monthly Labor Review (MLR), as Issues in Labor Statistics, and in consumer expenditure anthologies. Copies of the most recent articles are posted on the BLS Web site. Other survey information is also available on the Internet, including answers to frequently asked questions, a glossary, and order forms for survey products. Beginning with the 2000 data, estimates of standard errors for integrated Diary and Interview Survey data are available on the BLS Web site.

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