1 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov

Project 4: Using the Diary Survey 

to get a complete educational 

expenditure
2 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov

Project 4

If you need to include complete estimates for 

education expenditures in your totals, you would 

use the diary EXPD file to fill in the blanks at the 

summarized level (using created number of 

children variable from the MEMD files for this 

example)

In this project you will:

Learn how to navigate the Diary EXPD file

Learn how to connect the EXPD and MEMD files

Learn how to “integrate” data

2
3 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TATISTICS • bls.gov bls.gov 3

Project 4 Steps

1. Concatenate 4 quarterly FMLD files to obtain a collection year of data

2. Repeat for the MEMD files

3. Generate the number of children per household by creating the 

Children count variable

4. Using the EXPD files, create summary Diary education expenditures at 

the household level using the education UCC that is sourced from the 

Diary survey (660000 - School supplies, etc. – unspecified)

5. Multiply estimates by 52 to obtain estimated annual totals from the 

weekly estimates

6. Calculate means based on number of children from Diary

7. Standard Error: Calculate standard error for each of the groups 

8. Add Diary means for each group to the Interview means 
4 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov 4

CUs with 0 Children

Project 4 Results

Education 

Expenditure Type

Education 

Expenditure

Mean

Education 

Expenditure 

Standard Error

Education 

Expenditure 

Percent 

Reporting

TUITION $666.07 $58.17 4.1%

TEST $4.31 $1.28 0.3%

BOOKS $42.64 $3.96 3.3%

OTHER $28.37 $3.76 1.4%

SUPPLIES $39.14 $2.77 6.5%

Total $780.54
5 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov 5

CUs with 1 Child

Project 4 Results

Education 

Expenditure Type

Education 

Expenditure

Mean

Education 

Expenditure 

Standard 

Error

Education 

Expenditure 

Percent 

Reporting

TUITION $1,308.03 $124.02 9.3%

TEST $19.82 $6.60 1.2%

BOOKS $101.97 $11.40 10.0%

OTHER $62.39 $10.24 4.0%

SUPPLIES $53.73 $6.05 8.4%

Total $1,545.94
6 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov 6

CUs with 2 Children

Project 4 Results

Education 

Expenditure Type

Education 

Expenditure

Mean

Education 

Expenditure 

Standard 

Error

Education 

Expenditure 

Percent 

Reporting

TUITION $1,423.89 $175.50 10.5%

TEST $38.21 $7.31 1.8%

BOOKS $107.56 $9.17 13.5%

OTHER $58.34 $6.49 6.0%

SUPPLIES $97.61 $18.19 10.5%

Total $1,725.62
7 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov 7

CUs with 3 Children

Project 4 Results

Education 

Expenditure Type

Education 

Expenditure

Mean

Education 

Expenditure 

Standard 

Error

Education 

Expenditure 

Percent 

Reporting

TUITION $1,179.81 $188.33 10.5%

TEST $67.21 $20.95 1.9%

BOOKS $116.05 $11.83 14.4%

OTHER $65.78 $16.16 5.6%

SUPPLIES $94.66 $18.94 11.3%

Total $1,523.51
8 — U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS • bls.gov 8

CUs with 4 or more Children

Project 4 Results

Education 

Expenditure Type

Education

Expenditure

Mean

Education 

Expenditure 

Standard 

Error

Education 

Expenditure 

Percent 

Reporting

TUITION $1,199.77 $362.74 11.0%

TEST $18.67 $10.14 1.6%

BOOKS $107.36 $13.92 16.3%

OTHER $50.45 $9.75 8.2%

SUPPLIES $114.64 $29.85 13.5%

Total $1,490.88