The Anatomy of 

Price Change 

Con sv tne-h` e ycpe eldi'4u re 5 

Trip expenditure comparisons 

from 1972-73 to 1980-81 

ALICE A. LIPPERT 

Annual travel expenditures by Americans have increased 

dramatically since 1972-73, according to the 1980-81 Consumer Expenditure Survey . Overall, urban families have 

increased their vacation and pleasure trip expenses by 145 

percent, from $272 to $667 . The largest increase was for 

transportation-186 percent, followed by: entertainment and 

other expenses-144 percent, lodging-132 percent, and 

food and beverages-99 percent. During this same period, 

prices for the transportation component of trips increased 

about 165 percent, entertainment services-57 percent, and 

lodging out of town-120 percent, while food prices about 

doubled .' 

As a percentage of total trip expenses, families spent the 

most on transportation, followed by food and beverages, 

lodging, and all other expenses. Within respective expenditure categories, gas and oil increased the most for all 

consumer units-205 percent. During this same period, the 

Consumer Price Index for gasoline and motor oil increased 

246 percent. 

A comparison of income and age groups shows that the 

largest percentage increase for trips occur -red in the lowest 

20 percent quintile income group (296 percent) and in the 

under 25 age group (216 percent) . (Ages given refer to the 

reference person .) However, the level of expenditures for 

these groups was only 40 percent and 60 percent of the all 

consumer unit average. Families in the 45 to 54 age group 

and families in the highest 20 percent quintile group continued to have higher-than-average dollar expenditures on 

vacation and pleasure trips. Overall, trip expenditures increased by income class . Similarly, trip expenses rose by 

age group until the 65 and over category where expenditures 

declined . The over 65 age group spent less on trips than 

most age groups in both 1972-73 and 1980-81 . Whereas 

trip expenditures tripled for most other age groups, expenditures for families 65 and over only doubled. 

z 

Alice A. Lippert was formerly an economist in the Division of Consumer 

Expenditures, Bureau of Labor Statistics . 

Scope and results 

Expenditures on trips are collected in the Quarterly Interview Survey-a major component of the Consumer Expenditure Survey. It includes expenditures for transportation, 

food and beverages, lodging, and all other trip expenses. 

The last available source of such information was from the 

1972-73 survey . In 1972-73, travel data were published 

as separate items under "Recreation, Total ." In the current 

publications, trip data are part of each appropriate expenditure category . Thus, trip information is not identifiable 

nor is it published as a separate component. For example, 

in 1972-73, gas and oil expenditures on trips appeared under 

the heading of "Transportation on Trips ." To obtain total 

gas and oil expenditures, the two parts-gas and oil on trips 

plus regular oil and gas expenses-had to be added. Because 

most users examine total amounts for particular expenditure 

items, such as food and gasoline, it is considered more 

useful in the current survey to present the data by these total 

components . However, requests are still made for the total 

cost of trip expenditures . 

The purpose of this study, therefore, is to provide a comparison of trip expenditures from 1972-73 to 1980-81 and 

to analyze how such expenses have changed. This is done 

by identifying and converting 1980-81 data to the 1972-

73 published format . Interview data for 1980-81 were published for the urban population in BLs Bulletin 2225. The 

1972-73 data were recalculated to reflect urban population 

only. In addition, because students were not sampled separately in 1972-73, these households were removed from 

the 1980-81 data for the comparisons.' 

Table 1 displays trip expenditures by quintiles of income 

class. For each time period represented in the tables, complete income reporters are ranked in ascending order according to the level of total before-tax income reported by 

the consumer unit . The ranking is then divided into five 

equal groups. Incomplete income reporters are not ranked 

and are shown separately . It should be noted that the lowest 

20 percent income class contains negative income values 

because some respondents reported income losses . Table 2 

shows trip expenditures for consumer units by the age of 

the reference person, who is the first member mentioned by 

the respondent when asked to "Start with the name of the 

person or one of the persons who owns or rents the home ." 
Table 1 . Annual travel expenditures of urban consumer units classified by outlines of Income before taxes, Interview 

Survey, 1972-73 and 1980-81' 

Complete reporting 

All consumer 

of Income Highest Incomplete re, 

Item units Total complete Lowest Second Third Fourth 20 percent porting of Income 

reporting 20 percent 20 percent 20 percent 20 percent 

1972-73 1980-81 1972-73 1980-81 1972-73 1980-81 1972-731 1980-81 1972-73 1980-81 1972-73 1980-81 1972-73 1980-81 1972-73 1980-81 

Number of consumer 

units in universe 

(in thousands) . 58,948 67,327 55,461 56,558 11,087 11,276 11,097 11,320 11,089 11,318 11,092 11,290 11,095 11,353 3,488 10,769 

Consumer unit 

characteristics : 

Income before taxesz . $12,388 $20,225 $12,388 $20,225 $2,448 $3,720 $6,336 $10,085 $10,553 $17,075 $15,335 $25,325 $27,260 $44,798 - - 

Size of consumer unit. . 2 .8 2 .7 2 .8 2 .7 1 .5 1 .8 2 .3 2 .3 2 .9 2 .7 3 .4 3 .2 3 .8 3 .4 3 .0 2 .6 

Age of householder . . 47.1 46 .6 47 .0 45 .7 54 .4 53 .8 48 .2 46 .1 42 .9 42 .4 43 .1 41 .3 46 .3 44 .7 49 .7 51 .6 

Number in consumer 

unit: 

Earners . . . . . . . 1 .3 1 .4 1 .4 1 .4 5 6 1 .0 1 .1 1 .4 1 .5 1 .8 1 .8 2 .2 2 .2 4 1 .3 . 

Vehicles . . . . . . . . . 1 .8 1 .9 1 .8 1 .9 6 8 1 .2 1 .4 1 .8 2 .0 2 .4 2 .5 2 .9 2 .9 2 .0 1 .8 

Children under 18 . . 1 .0 8 1 .0 .8 4 4 .8 7 1 .1 8 1 .4 1 .0 1 .3 1 .0 9 6 

Persons 65 and over . 3 3 3 .3 5 5 4 4 2 .2 1 1 1 1 .3 .4 

Percent homeowner . . . 56 62 55 61 32 39 41 47 53 58 70 75 81 88 61 68 

Vacation and pleasure 

trips, total . . . . . $272 $667 $266 $657 $67 $265 $132 $381 $206 $531 $308 $669 $619 $1,437 $360 $718 

Transportation, total . . 111 317 108 314 33 143 61 206 85 270 122 311 236 637 148 332 

Gas and oil for 

owned vehicles . 39 119 39 121 8 49 23 73 36 117 49 155 74 211 40 106 

Plane fares . 53 139 51 135 17 56 28 78 36 112 54 108 120 320 84 160 

Other3 . . . 20 59 18 58 8 38 11 54 13 41 19 47 42 107 24 66 

Food and beverages, 

total . 81 161 80 160 19 60 36 84 62 127 96 175 187 352 97 169 

Lodging . . . 53 123 52 119 9 42 22 60 37 85 57 117 132 293 80 143 

Other expenses . . . 27 66 27 64 7 21 12 31 22 48 32 66 63 155 35 74 

'Urban population refers to all persons living in Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas respondent provided values for major sources of income, such as wages and salaries, selt- 

(smsA's) and in urbanized areas and urban places of 2,500 persons or more outside of employment income, and social security income . 

SMSA'S . 30ther includes trip expenditures for train, bus, and boat fares ; taxis; tolls ; rented 

zlncome values are derived from "complete income reporters" only. The distinction vehicles; and other vehicle expenses, 

between complete and incomplete income reporters is based in general on whether the 

Table 2. Annual travel expenditures of urban consumer units classified by age of householder, Interview Survey, 1972-73 

and 1980-81' 

All consumer units Under 25 25 to 34 351o44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 and over 

Item 

1972-73 1980-81 1972-73 1980-81 1972-73 1980-81 1972-73 1980-61 1972-73 1980-81 1972-73 1980-e1 1972-73 1980-81 

Number of consumer units in 

universe (in thousands) . . 58,948 67,327 5,564 6,467 12,043 16,058 9,983 11,422 10,807 9,683 9,343 10,410 11,208 13,287 

Consumer unit characteristics : 

Income before taxesz . $12,388 $20,225 $6,804 $12,495 $12,267 $20,972 $15,517 $25,727 $17,350 $28,112 $13,832 $22,312 $6,778 $10,898 

Size of consumer unit . 2 .8 2 .7 1 .8 1 .9 3 .1 2 .8 4 .2 3 .8 3.4 3.4 2 .3 2 .4 1 .6 1 .7 

Age of householder . 47 .1 46 .6 21 .9 22 .0 29 .1 29 .5 39 .5 39 .2 49.5 49 .5 59 .4 59.3 73 .4 73 .6 

Number in consumer unit: 

Earners . 1 .3 1 .4 1 .3 1 .3 1 .3 1 .5 1 .7 1 .9 1 .9 2.2 1 .3 1 .4 4 4 

Vehicles . . . 1 .8 1 .9 1 .4 1 .3 1 .8 1 .9 2.4 2.3 2.4 2.7 1 .9 2.1 9 1 .1 

Children under 18 . . . . . . 1 .0 8 5 4 1 .4 1 .1 2.3 1 .7 1 .1 9 3 2 1 .0 

Persons 65 and over . . . . . . 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 .3 1 .4 

Percent homeowner . . . . . . . . . 56 62 7 13 37 50 66 70 72 78 71 80 62 70 

Vacation and pleasure trips, total . $272 $667 $124 $392 $230 $589 $311 $838 $359 $871 $332 $831 $221 $470 

Transportation, total . . . . . . . . . 111 317 56 210 98 288 117 376 142 394 136 398 92 233 

Gas and oil for owned vehicles 39 119 27 95 40 123 45 143 48 142 45 138 23 71 

Plane fares . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 139 20 71 43 118 53 163 70 186 69 190 50 103 

Other3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 59 8 45 15 47 19 68 25 65 22 70 20 58 

Food and beverages, total . . . . . 81 161 36 84 70 145 99 210 111 216 98 195 58 111 

Lodging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 123 18 42 37 93 59 164 70 170 66 166 56 98 

Other expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 66 15 56 24 64 37 89 36 92 31 73 16 29 

'Urban population refers to all persons living in Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas respondent provided values for major sources of income, such as wages and salaries, self- 

(sMsA's) and in urbanized areas and urban places of 2,500 persons or more outside of employment income, and social security income . 

SMSA's . 30ther includes trip expenditures for train, bus, and boat fares ; taxis ; tolls ; rented vehicles ; 

zlncome values are derived from "complete income reporters" only. The distinction and other vehicle expenses . 

between complete and incomplete income reporters is based in general on whether the 

47 
MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW July 1985 * Anatomy of Price Change 

It is with respect to this person that the relationship of other 

consumer unit members is determined. 

The Consumer Expenditure Survey 

The Consumer Expenditure Survey is the most comprehensive source of detailed information on household expenditures and income related to the socioeconomic and 

demographic characteristics of the U.S . population . Since 

1980, the survey has been conducted on an ongoing basis . 

Prior to that, the survey had been conducted about every 

10 years.' 

The survey consists of two major components : the Diary 

and the Quarterly Interview . The Diary Survey collects information on frequently purchased items, such as detailed 

food, food away from home, and household products . The 

Interview Survey is designed to collect information on relatively large purchase items such as housing, education, 

vehicles, and major appliances . In addition, data are collected for expenditures which occur at regular intervals, such 

as rent and utility bills . 

The Bureau of the Census collects the data for the Bureau 

of Labor Statistics . Each survey contains its own independent sample of approximately 5,000 consumer units . The 

Diary Survey is completed by participating households over 

a 2-week period (14 days) . The Interview Survey is conducted with rotating panels of consumers on a quarterly 

basis . Consumer units in this survey are interviewed for five 

consecutive quarters ; one-fifth of the sample is new to the 

survey each quarter. 0 

FOOTNOTES 

'Implicit trips weights and relevant Consumer Price Indexes were used 

to estimate the transportation price change . 

'Public use tapes are available from the 1980-81 Interview Survey . The 

tapes contain separate trip expenditures as well as other expenditure items. 

Users can perform similar analyses for any of the characteristics on the 

tape: region, race, family size, dollar income levels, and so forth. 

3 See BLs Bulletin 2225 for a description of all differences between the 

surveys in the two periods. 

4 For a complete discussion of the history and methodology of the Consumer Expenditure Survey see Handbook of Methods, Bulletin 2134-1 

(Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1982), Ch. 6, p. 38 . 

What wage level for the young? 

Wage levels were an issue in the 1970s' youth initiatives, as they were 

in the New Deal youth programs, and as they continue to be in the debate 

over a youth minimum wage differential . Should 14-, 15- or 16-

year-olds with no skills or work experience receive the full minimum wage 

for summer or in-school jobs when the majority of young teenagers in 

unsubsidized employment earns less than the minimum, when the unemployed parents of participants might be more than willing to accept minimum wage jobs, and when unrealistic wages reduce public support as 

well as the number who can be served in public programs? 

-NATIONAL COUNCIL ON EMPLOYMENT POLICY, 

Investing in America's Future: A Policy Statement 

by the National Council on Employment Policy 

(Washington National Council on Employment Policy, 

1984), pp. 17 and 18 .