payment are referred to as recipient consumer 

units, and members who received a payment 

are recipients.

On average, recipient consumer units received a total of $331 in payments. Two-fifths 

of recipients within these consumer units 

reported using the payment mostly for spending. About one-fourth reported mostly saving 

the payment, and about one-third reported 

using the payment primarily to pay off debt. 

The remaining 2 percent either did not know 

or refused to report how they mostly used the 

payment. (See chart 1.)

In 2009, the Social Security Administration administered the delivery of one-time economic 

recovery payments of $250 for most recipients of Social Security, Railroad Retirement, 

Supplemental Security Income, and Veterans’ 

Benefits.1 Individuals who qualified for or 

received any of these benefits anytime from 

November 2008 through January 2009 were 

eligible to receive this one-time economic recovery payment. The payments were sent by 

the Department of Treasury during May 2009.2

To examine the impact of these payments, 

staff of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 

included special questions in the Interview 

component of the Consumer Expenditure 

Survey from July through September 2009. 

These questions were designed to collect 

information on whether the payment was 

received, and how it was used—whether the 

money was used mostly for spending, mostly 

for saving, or mostly for paying off debt. This 

report contains the first analysis of these data 

by staff of BLS. 

In the text that follows, consumer units3

 that 

include at least one member who received a 

Current Price Topics

How Consumers Used the

2009 Economic Recovery

Payments of $250

1

Consumer Expenditure Survey

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics March 2011 Volume 1, Number 16

Chart 1. How recipients mostly used 

their 2009 economic recovery payment

Paying off debt

34%

Spending

40%

Saving

24%

Use not reported

2%
2

Distinction from the Economic Stimulus Payments of 2008. It is important to note that 

economic recovery payments were part of 

a series of economic stimulus methods employed during the late 2000s to counteract 

the developing recession. For example, in 

2008, the Internal Revenue Service sent out 

a number of economic stimulus payments, 

also known as tax rebates. Although similar in 

name to the economic recovery payments described in this report, the Economic Stimulus 

Payments of 2008 were separate and distinct. 

(The Consumer Expenditure Survey program 

also collected information on the tax rebates 

when they were distributed. A report is available at http://www.bls.gov/cex/taxrebate.htm.)

Recipient income. As shown in table 1, recipient consumer units received averages of

•	 More than $41,000 in total income before 

taxes 

•	 More than $15,500 in Social Security and 

Railroad Retirement payments (a component of total income before taxes) 

•	 More than $800 in Supplemental Security 

Income (another component of total income before taxes). 

In general, recipient consumer units had lower 

income on average ($41,160) than nonrecipient consumer units ($71,365).4

 C U R R E N T P R I C E T O P I C S

Characteristics of recipients. The data (table 1) 

show the following:

•	 More than 27 million consumer units 

included at least one member for whom 

receipt of the payment was reported. In total, this amounted to more than 36 million 

persons.5

•	 Most recipients (70 percent) were at least 

66 years old at the time of the interview. 

However, nearly 1 in 5 recipients (19 percent) was under age 62, the age at which 

most persons became eligible for Social 

Security retirement benefits in 2009. About 

11 percent were between the ages of 62 

and 65. 

•	 The majority of recipients were either retired (63 percent) or not working for some 

other reason, such as illness, disability, or 

taking care of home or family (20 percent).6

However, a substantial proportion—more 

than 1 in 6 recipients (17 percent)—was 

either self-employed (2 percent) or working 

for someone else (15 percent).

In addition, for recipient consumer units of 2 

to 9 members (the maximum size observed 

for recipient consumer units), the number 

of recipients ranged from 1 to 6, averaging 

1.3 recipients per recipient consumer unit. 

Table 2 shows that, as is to be expected, the 

percentage of recipient consumer units in 
3

 C U R R E N T P R I C E T O P I C S

Table 1. Characteristics of consumer units by recipients of economic recovery payments and 

nonrecipients, 2009

Characteristic of consumer units Total recipients Nonrecipients

Consumer units interviewed (sample size) 1,625 5,369

Consumer units represented (in thousands) 27,321 93,570

Recipients per unit 1.3 0.0

Income $41,160 $71,365

Wages and salaries 14,929 63,663

Self-employment 1,049 2,842

Social Security 15,553 1,074

Private and government retirement 6,151 1,469

Interest, dividends, rental income, other property income 1,910 941

Unemployment 149 379

Workers' compensation and veterans' benefits 110 80

Public assistance and food stamps 159 159

Supplemental Security Income 835 109

Regular contributions for support 191 481

Other income 126 168

Individual members:

Total (sample size) 2,158 15,479

Total represented (in thousands) 36,196 265,493

Percent distribution for individual recipients:

Age

Under 62 18.8 1

93.5

62 to 65 10.9 2.9

66 to 74 35.4 1.8

75 to 84 26.4 1.3

85 and older 8.5 0.5

Occupation2

Retired 62.9 4.9

Other not working2 120.5 22.3

Self-employed 2.0 4.2

Work for someone else 14.6 68.6

1

 First decimal rounds up to 0.5 level; therefore, this value rounds down at the integer level.

2

 Only members at least 14 years old are asked about occupation. Figures here are percentages for members 14 years and older.
4

 C U R R E N T P R I C E T R E N D S

Chart 2. Percent reporting use of economic recovery payment, by age

Percent

which each member received the payment 

decreased rapidly as increasingly larger recipient consumer units were analyzed.

Additional findings by demographic. The data 

in table 3 reveal differences in use associated 

with the demographic characteristics of the 

recipients.

Age of recipient. The age classifications for 

this study are under age 62, age 62 to 65, age 

66 to 74, age 75 to 84, and age 85 and over. 

These groups are selected both to conform 

to Social Security benefit standards and 

to account for expected differences in use 

of the payments for recipients in different 

stages of life. That is, in 2009, the minimum 

age at which a person could start to receive 

retirement benefits from Social Security was 

62 years, and the minimum age to receive 

full retirement benefits was 66 years. The 

older groups are chosen to show differences 

for those who are one to two decades into 

full retirement benefit eligibility and those 

who are two or more decades into full retirement benefit eligibility; that is, persons who 

were at least 75 years old in 2009 would have 

been eligible to receive full retirement benefits at age 65.7

Table 2. Consumer units receiving at least 

one economic recovery payment, 2009

Family size

Percent receiving payments:

One payment 

only

One payment 

per member

1 100 100

2 44 56

3 63 9

4 68 2

5 to 9 75 0
As shown in chart 2:

•	 Exactly half—50 percent—of recipients 

under age 62 used the payment to pay off 

debt. For those 62 or older, the proportion 

that used the payment for paying off debt 

ranged from one-fourth (25 percent) for 

those age 85 and older, to almost one-third 

(33 percent) for those age 66 to 74 years. 

Within those age ranges, about 32 percent 

for those age 62 to 65 and 28 percent for 

those age 75 to 84 used the payment to pay 

off debt. 

•	 The percentage reporting saving the payment increased with age: Exactly 1 in 10 of 

the youngest group saved the payment, 

compared with almost 22 to 23 percent of 

those age 62 to 74, and 32 percent of those 

age 75 to 84, and 39 percent of those 85 

and older. 

•	 The oldest group was the least likely to 

spend the payment (33 percent), followed 

by recipients age 75 to 84 years and under 

age 62 (39 percent each). The other groups 

(62 to 65 and 66 to 74 years old) were similar to each other—43 to 44 percent reported mostly spending the payment. 

•	 Small proportions of each age group either 

did not know or refused to report how 

they mostly used the payment (1 percent 

to 4 percent); the values for each group are 

included in the tables for reference, but 

because of the small amounts they are not 

discussed further in this report.

Race and Hispanic origin. As examined in this 

report, race and ethnicity are made up of the 

following groups: Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, 

and non-Hispanics. Although standard published tables from the Consumer Expenditure 

Survey include data for Asians and others,8

the group is, by definition, heterogeneous, so 

although the results are included in table 3 for 

reference, they are not discussed here. The following are highlights of the data by race and 

ethnic origin:

•	 For Whites, 41 percent reported using the 

payment mostly for spending, 26 percent 

mostly for saving, and 32 percent mostly for 

paying off debt. 

•	 For Blacks, 34 percent reported mostly 

spending, 13 percent reported mostly saving, and 51 percent reported mostly paying 

off debt. 

•	 Hispanics (37 percent) were less likely than 

non-Hispanics (41 percent) to have reported mostly spending the payment. 

•	 Hispanics (48 percent) were much more 

likely to use the payment mostly for paying 

off debt than they were to use it mostly for 

spending, and a smaller proportion (33 percent) of non-Hispanics used the payment 

to pay off debt. This meant that Hispanics 

were about half as likely (12 percent) as 

non-Hispanics (25 percent) to use the payment mostly for saving.

5

 C U R R E N T P R I C E T R E N D S
Table 3. Use of the economic recovery payments, by demographic characteristics of 

individual recipients, 2009

Characteristic Payment used mostly for—

Spending Saving Paying off debt Use not reported

Percent distribution:

All recipients 40.4 24.1 33.9 1.7

Age

Under 62 38.8 10.3 50.0 1.0

62 to 65 1

44.5 22.2 31.8 1.6

66 to 74 43.1 22.7 32.8 1.4

75 to 84 38.6 31.9 27.8 1.7

85 and older 32.6 38.7 24.6 4.2

Race and Hispanic origin

Race 

White 40.7 25.8 31.9 1.6

Black 34.3 12.7 50.7 2.4

Asian and others 49.3 16.7 32.8 1.2

Hispanic origin2

Hispanic 36.5 12.1 48.2 3.2

Not Hispanic 40.6 24.8 33.0 1.6

Income before taxes

Less than $10,000 40.6 12.9 1

45.5 1.0

$10,000 to 19,999 37.0 20.6 41.2 1.2

$20,000 to 29,999 44.1 19.2 34.7 2.1

$30,000 to 39,999 38.8 25.6 1

34.5 1.1

$40,000 to 49,999 43.5 23.9 28.3 4.2

$50,000 to 69,999 35.5 33.7 29.9 0.8

$70,000 and over 43.4 30.7 24.2 1.7

Marital status

Single men 39.4 24.9 34.0 1.8

Single women 37.4 24.9 35.3 12.5

Married couples3 43.0 29.1 26.2 1.7

1

 First decimal rounds up to 0.5 level; therefore, this value rounds down at the integer level.

2

 Hispanics may be of any race.

3 Includes consumer units consisting of a husband and wife only, in which each spouse 

reported the same use for the payment.

6

 C U R R E N T P R I C E T R E N D S
Income. The percent reporting use of the 

payment mostly to pay off debt generally 

declined as income increased, ranging from 

45 percent of those with less than $10,000 

in total income before taxes to 24 percent of 

those with at least $70,000 in total income before taxes. However, for other levels of income, 

spending or saving patterns were not obvious.

Marital status. The types of marital status 

included single women, single men, and 

married couples. For simplicity, the sample 

analyzed for the latter group is restricted to 

consumer units consisting only of a husband 

and wife, both of whom received the payment 

and used it in the same way.9

There were differences in how single persons 

and married couples used the payments, but 

there was not much difference between single 

men and single women:

•	 Twenty-five percent of single persons of 

either sex mostly saved the payment, with 

single men only a little more likely to spend 

than single women (39 percent versus 37 

percent, respectively), and a little less likely 

to pay off debt (34 percent versus 35 percent). 

•	 In contrast, married couples were the most 

likely to spend it, with 43 percent responding that they did so. Although they were 

more likely than singles to save the payment (29 versus 25 percent), only 1 in 4 of 

these couples (26 percent) used the payment mostly to pay off debt, compared 

with more than 1 in 3 (34 to 35 percent) for 

singles.

Summary of findings. In 2009, most recipients 

of the economic recovery payments ($250 

per recipient) were at least 66 years old, and 

most were also retired. However, a substantial proportion was under age 62, and many 

recipients were working.

The most frequently reported use of the payments was for spending (40 percent), followed 

by paying off debt (34 percent), and saving 

(24 percent). However, there were variations 

observed by demographic characteristic, 

wherein some groups used their payments 

differently on average than others. For example, half of recipients under age 62 used their 

payments mostly for paying off debt, with 

spending being the second most frequently 

reported use for this group. The older the 

recipient group, the more likely the recipients 

were to save their payments. Blacks and Hispanics followed a similar pattern to younger 

recipients, while Whites were much less likely 

to report paying off debt than they were to 

report spending the payment.

7

 C U R R E N T P R I C E T R E N D S
8

 C U R R E N T P R I C E T R E N D S

Technical notes

The data. Nearly 7,000 consumer units were 

interviewed from July through September 

2009. Of these, 1,625 consumer units included 

at least one member who had received an 

economic recovery payment. The full sample 

(6,994 consumer units) included 17,637 

members. Within these consumer units, 

respondents were asked about receipt of the 

payment for a total of 2,785 members. Respondents reported that 2,158 had received 

the payment; 487 had not received the payment; and 140 members did not give a definite answer (either the respondent did not 

know or refused to say whether the member 

had received the payment).

When weighted, the total sample (6,994) 

represents almost 121 million consumer units, 

of which over 27 million included at least 

one member who had reported receipt of an 

economic recovery payment. The members 

for whom receipt of the payment is reported 

(2,158) represent more than 36 million recipients in the total U.S. population.

The results analyzed in this report are based 

on reported economic recovery payment 

receipts.

For researcher use, the 2009 Consumer Expenditure Survey public use microdata files 

(released October 5, 2010) contain more 

detailed information on consumer units and 

their expenditures, income, and other demographics.

Eligibility for receipt of payment. Most recipients of Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Railroad Retirement Income, or 

Veterans benefits were eligible for receipt of 

the payment, as long as they were eligible to 

receive these benefits between November 

2008 and January 2009.10 Ineligible recipients 

included

•	 Anyone living outside of the United States 

or its territories 

•	 Individuals who no longer are lawfully present in the United States 

•	 Individuals whose benefits have been 

suspended under the law for giving false or 

misleading statements 

•	 Social Security beneficiaries who are minor 

children (except children receiving Supplemental Security Income payments) 

•	 Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries who receive benefits at a reduced rate 

of $30 because they live in a medical treatment facility (such as a nursing home or 

hospital) and Medicaid pays over 50 percent of the cost of their care 
9

•	 Individuals only entitled to Medicare and 

not to Social Security or SSI benefits 

•	 Prisoners, fugitive felons, and probation 

and parole violators.11 

Data collection. Participants interviewed between July and September 2009 were asked 

about receipt and, if applicable, use of the 

$250 economic recovery payment. The questions were as follows:12

In May or June 2009, did you receive a onetime stimulus payment of $250? (Yes or no.) If 

yes:

Did the $250 stimulus payment lead you 

mostly to increase spending, mostly to increase savings, or mostly to pay off debt?

These questions were asked only of members 

for whom receipt of income from Social Security, Railroad Retirement, or the Supplemental 

Security Income program was reported. If the 

respondent was not sure whether a member 

received income from one of those sources, 

the questions regarding receipt and use of the 

economic recovery payment were not asked.

Although most recipients of Veterans Benefits 

were eligible to receive the economic recovery payment, information for this source of 

income is collected in the Interview Survey 

for the consumer unit as a whole rather than 

for individual members. In addition, when 

collected, these benefits are combined with 

other sources of income, such as workers’ 

compensation. Because the questions about 

economic recovery payments were asked for 

individual members, some recipients may 

not have been asked about these payments. 

In addition, because the respondent for the 

consumer unit is not always the person who 

received the payment, it is possible that the 

respondent did not know that one or more 

members of the consumer unit had received 

an economic recovery payment. These factors contribute to the difference between 

the number of payments estimated to have 

been received (36 million) and the number 

reported by the Social Security Administration 

(52 million).13

Questions? Please contact Geoffrey Paulin with the Consumer Expenditure Survey 

program at Paulin.Geoffrey@bls.gov or (202) 

691-5132.

 C U R R E N T P R I C E T R E N D S
Notes

1

 For more information on categories of recipients covered in this one-time payment, see One-Time Economic Recovery Payment, Social Security Administration publication No. 05–10519, April 2009, question 1, on the Internet at, http://www.ssa.gov/

pubs/10519.html#1,visited November 9, 2010.

2

 For more information on how payments were received, see One-Time Economic Recovery Payment, question 2, on the Internet at 

http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10519.html#2, visited November 9, 2010.

3

 Consumer units include families, single persons living alone or sharing a household with others but who are financially independent, or two or more persons living together who share expenses. See www.bls.gov/cex/csxfaqs.htm, question 3 for more information (visited November 17, 2010).

4

 Nonrecipients include those who were not asked the receipt questions as well as those who were asked but responded that they did 

not receive the payment, and those who were asked but did not know or refused to answer.

5

 However, according to the Social Security Administration, over 52 million eligible recipients had been identified by May 2009. 

(http://www.ssa.gov/recovery/Report_Plan/ERPPlan-AdministrativeExpenses.pdf, p. 8, visited January 19, 2011). See technical notes for an explanation of the difference.

6

 The full list of reasons for not working includes unable to find work (unemployed); working without pay; ill, disabled, or unable to 

work; taking care of home/family; going to school; doing something else; and member not coded.

7

 This is because 65 years was the minimum age for full retirement benefit eligibility until 2002; by 2007, the minimum age was still 

65 years and 10 months. It changed to 66 years in 2009, and will remain there until 2021. Nevertheless, minimum eligible age for 

Medicare benefits remained at 65 years in 2009. See http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/agereduction.htm for more information (visited 

November 30, 2010).

8

 Other races include Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native, and persons reporting more than 

one race. 

9

 The total sample included 1,535 husband and wife only consumer units, of which 574 were recipient consumer units. Both spouses 

were recipients in 378 of these consumer units. In 335 of these cases, both spouses also reported the same use for the economic 

recovery payment: 330 where both reported mostly spending, saving, or paying off debt; and 5 where specific use was not known or 

refused. When weighted, the sample analyzed (335 consumer units) represented almost 5.6 million consumer units nationally.

10 For more information, see One-Time Economic Recovery Payment, question 1, on the Internet at http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10519.

html#1, visited November 9, 2010.

11 See One-Time Economic Recovery Payment, question 9, on the Internet at http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10519.html#9, visited November 9, 2010.

12 2009 Consumer Expenditure Interview Survey Public Use Microdata User’s Documentation October 5, 2010, p. 5 (http://www.

bls.gov/cex/2009/csxintvw.pdf, visited January 19, 2011).

13 Approximate number distributed as of May 2009. (http://www.ssa.gov/recovery/Report_Plan/ERPPlan-AdministrativeExpenses.pdf, p. 8, visited January 19, 2011).

 C U R R E N T P R I C E T R E N D S