December 01, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Consumer expenditures in 2003
At $40,817, average annual expenditures per consumer unit were essentially unchanged in 2003, up 0.3 percent. This followed increases of 2.9 percent in 2002 and 3.9 percent in 2001.
![Percent change in average annual expenditures of all consumer units, 2001-03](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120924212809im_/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/images/2004/nov/wk5/art03.gif)
[Chart data—TXT]
Among the major components of spending, the only statistically significant
change from 2002 to 2003 was a 6.2-percent decrease in spending on apparel and services.
Average expenditures on food and entertainment decreased over the period, 0.7 and 0.9 percent respectively, whereas housing rose 1.1 percent, transportation rose 0.3 percent, and health care rose 2.8 percent.
Whereas expenditures showed little change from 2002 to 2003, there was a 2.3 percent annual average rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over this period.
These data come from the Consumer Expenditure
Survey. Find out more in "Consumer Expenditures in 2003" (PDF)
(TXT),
USDL release 04-2399, and in http://www.bls.gov/cex/csxnote205.htm.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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Read more »