March 30, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Distribution of consumer expenditures in 1998
In 1998, spending
on housing accounted for 33.0 percent of total consumer expenditures. This was by
far the largest expenditure share of all the major categories of spending.
![Distribution of total annual expenditures by major category, Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1998](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120925075939im_/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/images/2000/Mar/wk4/art04.gif)
[Chart data—TXT]
Transportation was the second largest component of total spending,
accounting for 18.6 percent of the total in 1998. Vehicle purchases is the
largest transportation subcomponent, accounting for 45 cents of every
dollar spent on transportation in 1998. At 13.5 percent, food was the
third largest component of consumer expenditures. Of the total food
dollar, 58 cents was spent on food at home in 1998, while 42 cents was
spent on food away from home.
Expenditures on personal insurance and pensions accounted for 9.5
percent of total expenditures. Rounding out the expenditures by major
categories were health care at 5.4 percent, entertainment at 4.9 percent,
and apparel and services at 4.7 percent. "Other expenditures," such as reading, education,
tobacco, and personal care, accounted for 10.4 percent of expenditures in
1998.
These data come from the Consumer
Expenditure Survey. Find out more
in "Consumer Expenditures in 1998," BLS Report 940.
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.
.
Read more »