Text table 9. Comparison of aggregate expenditures for food: Con:

Consumption Expenditures (PCE), and trade association data, 1996-97

sumer Expenditure (CE) Diary Survey and Personal

CE Diary survey Ratio of CE Ratio of CE to Ratio of CE to
Food category (in billions) to PCE ele ee

1996 1997 1996 1997 1996 1997 1996 1997

Total $293.9 | $297.9 73 72 1.10 1.12 1.18 1.16
Cereals and cereal products 17.2 17.0 73 69 1.20 1.23 1.28 1.29
Bakery products .. 29.3 30.7 75 76 1.00 1.04 1.15 1.18
Beef, pork, other meat, poultry 63.9 65.5 79 78 1.10 1.13 1.10 1.09
Fish and seafood 9.2 9.3 87 85 1.34 1.36 3.17 3.17
Eggs .. 3.5 3.4 | 1.20 1.12 217 2.21 1.64 1.63
Fresh milk and cream 13.8 13.5 98 93 1.78 1.78 1.36 1.32
Other dairy products .. 18.7 19.5 92 93 1.33 1.40 1.08 1.08
Fresh fruits and vegetable: 31.3 30.9 93 89 73 72 95 89
Processed fruits and vegetables 19.7 19.2 68 64 1.20 1.18 1.55 1.53
Sugar and other sweets 11.9 12.0 40 39 1.50 1.47 1.73 1.67
Fats and oils 8.6 8.5 79 76 1.26 1.27 1.50 1.45
Nonalcoholic beverages... 26.2 25.8 54 52 1.02 .99 1.18 1.16
Miscellaneous prepared foods 40.6 42.5 69 69 1.18 1.22 1.04 1.04

NOTE: Sums may not equal totals, due to rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Stati

ics, Consumer Expenditure Survey, annual. PCE estimates are

shown in U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, “National Income and Product Accounts” Survey

of Current Business, August 1998. Detailed PCE estimates used in the ci

of November 1998. Supermarket Business, Inc.,

Text table 10. Comparison of aggregate expenditures for health care:

and National Health Expenditures, 1994-97

omparisons are from unpublished annual PCE data as

“Consumer Expenditure Study,” Supermarket Business, Howfrey Communica-
tions, LLC, September issues, 1997, 1998. Progressive Grocer Company, “The {year] Supermarket Sales Manual,” Progressive
Grocer, Progressive Grocer Associates, LLC, July issues, 1997, 1998.

Consumer Expenditure (CE) Survey

Aggregate consumer expenditures Ratio of CE survey
Consumer Expenditure Survey to
Expenditure Categories (In billions) National Health Expenditures*

1994 1995, 1996 1997 1994 | 1995 1996 1997
Health care, total? $94.4 | $88.7 | $94.9] $96.6 69 64 66 62
Medical commodities, total 37.5 37.0 41.5 42.0 68 66 72 70
Drugs and supplies .. 31.5 31.0 34.1 33.9 66 64 67 64
Medical equipment 5.9 6.0 74 8.1 83 85 1.07 1.18
Medical services, total 57.0 51.8 53.4 54.6 69 63 61 57
Professional service: 46.0 44.5 44.5 45.4 66 63 59 55
Physicians services .. 16.7 15.1 14.8 14.1 53. 50 AB At
Dental services . 19.2 19.2 20.1 21.5 96 91 91 90
Other professional services 10.1 10.2 9.5 9.8 55 51 43 40
Hospital care .. 11.0 7.2 9.0 9.2 86 63 76 74

‘The NHE data used are out-of-pocket expenditures.
?Excludes health insurance premiums, nursing home care, rental of medical equipment, and repair of medical equipment.
NOTE: Sums may not equal totals, due to rounding. CE categories have been grouped as needed to match NHE.

SOURCE: The NHE data used to obtain the ratios are from the U.S. De|

Financing Administration, “National Health Expenditures, 1998," Health Care Financing
available at http://www.hcfa.gov/ are National Health Expenditures data.

Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1996-97 21

partment of Health and Human Services, Health Care
Review, Volume 20, issue 1, Fall 1998. Also,


Text table 8. Comparison of aggregate expenditures for selected expenditure categories: Consumer Expenditure (CE) Survey and
Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), 1994-97

Expenditure category bear ies slid Survey Ratio of CE to PCE
1994 1995, 1996 1997 1994 1995 1996 1997
Food, total ... $437 $ 450 $475 $491 0.73 0.73 0.75 0.75
Food at home .. 272 283 294 298 71 73 73 72
Food away from homet.. 165 167 181 194 76 5 79 82
Alcoholic beverages .... 28 28 32 33 35 34 37 37
Rent, utilities, and public services? .. 358 357 382 398 97 92 94 95
Rented dwellings, total .. 205 204 218 229 1.00 94 95 96
Utilities, fuels, and public services 153 153 164 169 94 91 93 95
Telephone .. 71 73 81 85 85 83 83 82
Household operations® 26 25 27 29 81 73 76 78
Household supplies .. 36 38 41 42 48 49 51 50
Household furnishings and equipment 140 149 145 163 66 66 60 63
Apparel and services 168 176 184 184 55 56 55 53
Men and boys 40 44 44 43 56 59 56 52
Women and girls 67 68 75 72 58 58 62 57
Children under 2 8 8 9 8 52 50 49 43
Footwear .... 26 29 3 33 aa a7 81 83
Other apparel products and service: 28 27 26 28 40 38 33 35
Transportation ... 477 461 516 518 89 81 86 83
Vehicle purchases* 246 226 258 250 1.14 1.01 1.12 1.06
Gasoline and motor oil 101 104 113 116 94 92 92 94
Other vehicle expenses? .. 95 98 103 114 60 56 54 56
Maintenance and repairs, total 69 68 67 71 56 52 48 50
Vehicle rental and other charges 26 30 35 42 72 a7 68 70
Public transportation .... 36 34 42 39 67 60 72 60
Entertainment ... 155 161 178 185 57 55 57 56
Fees and admissions .. 45 45 48 50 68 61 62 61
Televisions, radios, sound equipment .. 87 58 61 65 60 56 56 57
Pets, toys, and playground equipment ‘ 30 33 35 34 59 63 61 57
Other entertainment supplies, equipment ... 23 25 34 36 39 38 49 AT
Personal care products and services 4 42 53 56 60 58 72 71
Reading .... 22 22 23 24 AS A5 44 44
Tobacco products and smoking supplies .. 26 28 27 28 56 57 53 54
Miscellaneous‘..... 37 36 40 42 25 23 23 23

‘Excludes school lunches and meals as pay.

2includes rent for tenant-occupied dwelling units and lodging away from home and at school. Rent in the CE is contract rent, which includes
utilities for some renters. The CE covers direct costs of utilities and fuels by homeowners and renters. In PCE, data are for space rent,
which excludes charges for utilities. PCE data cover total expenditures for utilities and fuels, even if paid by landlords.

’Excludes amounts for baby-sitting, daycare centers, and care of invalids or the elderly.

4PCE estimates are derived, using estimates of dealer margin and wholesale value of net transactions between persons and government,
foreigners, and non-dealer businesses. CE data on vehicle purchases and trade-ins were combined to approximate total value of new
vehicle purchases. CE data on used vehicle purchases, trade-ins, sales, and losses were combined to approximate the value of net
transactions of used vehicles.

SIncludes vehicle rentals, maintenance and repairs, and other vehicle charges. The estimates exclude aircraft rentals, vehicle licenses,
vehicle inspection, and vehicle registration.

®CE estimates exclude expenditures for other properties.

NOTE: Sums may not equal totals, due to rounding. Expenditure estimates for home ownership, insurance, capital improvements, health
care, finance charges, education, and cash contributions are excluded from comparisons.

SOURCE: PCE estimates are shown in U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, “National Income and Product

Accounts,” Survey of Current Business, August 1998. Detailed PCE estimates used in comparisons are from unpublished annual PCE data
as of November 1998.

20 Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1996-97


Comparisons with other data sources

A $ part of the evaluation of the Consumer Expenditure Survey results, BLS compares its esti-
ates of aggregate consumer expenditures with independent sources of data. Consumer Expen-

diture Survey data in these comparisons are integrated data from both the Interview and Diary sur-
veys, unless ctherwise noted. To facilitate comparison, some adjustments are made to the Consumer
Expenditure Survey data and the independent sources to account for differences in concept and cov-
erage. The degree of comparability varies by component, as noted in the tables. Data are not shown
when differences in concept or content are so great that comparison would be meaningless. Because
most agencies have revised their estimates since publication of data in the last Consumer Expenditure
Survey bulletin, readers should avoid comparing these ratios with those in earlier BLS publications.
The Consumer Expenditure Survey data and several of the independent source data are subject to
both sampling and non-sampling error. Comparisons allow monitoring of estimates for consistency

over time.

Personal Consumption Expenditures. The principal source
of independent estimates used in comparisons with the Con-
sumer Expenditure Survey is the Personal Consumption Ex-
penditures (PCE) component of the National Income and
Product Accounts (NIPA), published by the Bureau of Eco-
nomic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
PCE estimates of aggregate expenditures represent the mar-
ket value of goods and services purchased by all persons.
They are derived by complex methods that trace the flow of
goods and services through the economy. Total expenditures
of persons includes expenditures of the civilian population of
the United States, both at home and living abroad, persons in
the military, and nonprofit institutions. (Expenditures of non-
profit institutions are not distributed among individual goods.
Instead, they are included in specific service categories, pri-
marily medical care, education and research, and religious
and welfare activities—categories that are not compared with
Consumer Expenditure Survey data.) PCE estimates are not
directly subject to the quantifiable sampling errors found in
household surveys; they are subject to sampling and non-sam-
pling errors in the source data from which they are derived.
They are also subject to difficulties in applying complex pro-
cedures for allocating these data among the final demand sec-
tors.

BEA conducts comprehensive revisions of the NIPA at
approximately 5-year intervals, primarily to update the series
with new results from the Census Bureau’s quinquennial cen-
suses and other sources used in the accounts. This kind of
revision is referred to as benchmarking. Such revisions may
also include revisions to selected methods of estimation. PCE
estimates based on different benchmarks sometimes differ by
large amounts; and, as a result, revisions to PCE can have a
substantial effect on comparisons with the Consumer Expen-

diture Survey. In addition, BEA conducts annual revisions to
PCE that affect 3 years of data and may also include changes
in estimation methods. Therefore, due to the benchmarking
and annual revisions to PCE, the Consumer Expenditure Sur-
vey-to-PCE ratios in this report should not be compared with
previously published ratios.

Text table 8 shows Consumer Expenditure Survey esti-
mates of aggregate expenditures for selected expenditure cat-
egories for 1994 through 1997, adjusted for comparability
with PCE and ratios to PCE. The ratios indicate that the Con-
sumer Expenditure Survey estimates for the major categories
of consumption are lower than PCE. For most items, the rela-
tionship between the two series over time has been generally
about the same. These include the expenditure categories of
food, alcoholic beverages, telephone, apparel and services,
and entertainment.

Detailed food comparisons. CE survey estimates for food at
home are compared with PCE and two published sources of
trade association data, Supermarket Business and Progres-
sive Grocer magazines. Supermarket Business, Inc, annually
conducts independent mail and telephone surveys of food
manufacturers, packers, wholesalers, and retailers. Supermar-
kets, that is, grocery stores with annual food sales of $2 mil-
lion or more, account for about 80 percent of grocery store
food sales. Detailed national estimates of the value of food
sales in 30,600 supermarkets are reported. Focusing on mea-
suring total industry sales, total grocery sales and total retail
sales figures are also provided for each category. Results from
the surveys are reported in Supermarket Business (Howfrey
Communications, LLC, Teaneck, NJ) in September of each
year. Progressive Grocer, Inc. collects sales information from
retail, wholesale, manufacturer and other trade sources. Ad-

Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1996-97 17


ditionally, Progressive Grocer has direct access to scanner
information data from leading suppliers ACNielsen and In-
formation Resources, Inc. (IRI). Progressive Grocer, Inc. fo-
cuses on supermarket sales by providing total sales figures
and annual percent change data on 36 categories and hun-
dreds of subcategories in Progressive Grocer (Progressive
Grocer Associates, LLC, Stamford, CT) in their sales manual
edition, in July of each year.

Text table 9 shows detailed annual estimates of food-at-
home expenditures from the CE Diary Survey, compared to
PCE and the trade association data. In general, the relation-
ship among CE survey estimates and estimates from the three
sources is as expected and is consistent over the period shown.
Differences between the CE Diary Survey estimates and the
three sources of food-at-home data are most likely due to dif-
ferences in the methods of data collection and estimation.
These variations reflect fundamental differences in the pur-
poses for which the data are collected. Relatively low ratios
may reflect underreporting in the CE.

The comparisons show that CE Diary Survey estimates of
food-at-home expenditures for 1996 and 1997 are normally
lower than PCE, which is based on administrative data and
covers a larger population. In contrast, the CE Diary Survey
estimates are generally higher than Supermarket Business
estimates, which may reflect the difference in data collection
methods. CE estimates are higher than Progressive Grocer
estimates. This difference is expected, since this trade source
only covers supermarkets, as defined above. CE survey esti-
mates for fruits and vegetables, which are close to 10 percent
below Progressive Grocer estimates and almost 30 percent
below Supermarket Business estimates, may reflect
underreporting in the CE Diary Survey.

National Health Expenditures. The Health Care Financing
Administration (HCFA) of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services publishes annual data on total aggregate
health care expenditures of the United States, referred to as
National Health Expenditures (NHE). Total health care ex-
penditures include expenditures for health care by all sources
in the United States economy, including public and private
sources. The NHE data cover U.S. citizens living abroad, mili-
tary personnel, inhabitants of U.S. territories, and parts of the
institutional population—a larger population than covered by
the Consumer Expenditure Survey. In particular, the NHE is
designed to cover the nursing home population, whereas the
Consumer Expenditure Survey is not.

Estimates of out-of-pocket personal health care expendi-
tures from NHE are compared to the Consumer Expenditure
Survey. Out-of-pocket expenditures for health care include
expenditures for medical care that are not covered by insur-
ance. Such expenditures can include copayments and deduct-
ible amounts required by health insurance plans. To derive
its out-of-pocket estimates, HCFA uses data from adminis-
trative and industry sources, as well as some Consumer Ex-

18 Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1996-97

penditure Survey data. The NHE estimates used for these
comparisons reflect several updates in data sources since the
last consumer expenditure bulletin comparisons.

Text table 10 shows Consumer Expenditure Survey esti-
mates of aggregate expenditures for health care (excluding
health insurance and nursing home care) and ratios to NHE
estimates of out-of-pocket health care expenditures. As re-
ported in the Consumer Expenditure Survey, aggregate medi-
cal care expenditures, excluding health insurance, were $96.6
billion in 1997, or 62 percent of the NHE estimate of $154.8
billion. Of the Consumer Expenditure Survey total, $42 bil-
lion were spent on medical commodities and $54.6 billion on
medical services. These amounts were 70 percent and 57 per-
cent of the NHE estimates, respectively. Data show varia-
tions in the Consumer Expenditure Survey-to-NHE ratios over
the 1994-97 period for both medical commodities and medi-
cal services. These fluctuations may reflect volatility in spend-
ing on personal health care due to changes in health insur-
ance plans. In addition, the comparison of health care expen-
ditures may reflect underreporting in the CE.

Current Population Survey. The Bureau of the Census col-
lects income data in the supplement to the Current Popula-
tion Survey (CPS). Using data collected for calendar years
1995 through 1997, comparisons are made with Consumer
Expenditure Survey estimates of total consumer unit income
before taxes and by source of income. CPS estimates of ag-
gregate income by source of income are derived from Census
Bureau estimates of mean income of persons and the number
of persons with the specified income.

There are several differences between the Consumer Ex-
penditure Survey and the CPS. The CPS collects data in March
for the previous calendar year. By comparison, in the Con-
sumer Expenditure Survey estimates of income are obtained
inthe second and fifth interviews of the consumer unit. These
estimates refer to the prior 12 months and, due to the rotating
panel design of the survey, the interviews may occur any
time during the year. The Census Bureau imputes CPS in-
come data that are missing (due to nonresponse to income
questions) based on demographic characteristics. In contrast,
income data that are missing in the Consumer Expenditure
Survey due to nonresponse are not imputed as part of the
Consumer Expenditure Survey estimation procedure; instead,
Consumer Expenditure Survey income estimates are based
on complete income reporters only. Neither procedure ac-
counts for underreporting.

In addition to the differences between the Consumer Ex-
penditure Survey and the CPS described above, beginning in
1993, computer-assisted personal interviews collected the CPS
income data. By comparison, the Consumer Expenditure Sur-
vey data are collected by traditional paper and pencil inter-
view. The 1995 ratios reflect further revisions to CPS data to
include the 1990 Census Bureau-based sample design, reduc-
tions in sample size and selected editing procedures. Due to


these changes in CPS collection and estimation methods, one
should use caution when comparing current ratios to those
for years before 1993 that can be found in previous bulletin
publications.

Text table 11 shows that the Consumer Expenditure Sur-
vey estimates of total income before taxes are about 81 to 86
percent of the CPS. This reflects comparable levels of esti-
mates from the two surveys for two of the largest sources of
income; wages and salaries, and Social Security income. Also,
self-employment income was generally comparable between
the two surveys. Some of the differences in the estimates are

expected, because of the methodology differences between
the two surveys described above and because the CPS is de-
signed specifically to collect income data, whereas the Con-
sumer Expenditure Survey is designed primarily to collect
expenditure data. In addition, the CPS population is slightly
larger than the Consumer Expenditure Survey population.
Some of the variation in the ratios reflects the general diffi-
culty of obtaining income information via household survey
that is experienced by both the Consumer Expenditure Sur-
vey and CPS.

Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1996-97 19