Consumer Expenditure Diary Survey 2006
United States, 2006
Identification
USA_2006_CES-DS_v01_M
Consumer Expenditure Diary Survey 2006
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| United States | USA |
Income/Expenditure/Household Survey [hh/ies]
The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) program provides a continuous and comprehensive flow of data on the buying habits of American consumers. These data are used widely in economic research and analysis, and in support of revisions of the Consumer Price Index. To meet the needs of users, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces population estimates (for consumer units or CUs) of average expenditures in news releases, reports, and articles in the Monthly Labor Review. Tabulated CE data are also available on the Internet and by facsimile transmission (see Section XVI. Appendix 5). The microdata are available on CD-ROM as SAS data sets or ASCII text files.
These microdata files present detailed expenditure and income data for the Diary component of the CE for 2006. They include weekly expenditure (EXPN), annual income (DTAB) files, and imputed income files (DTAB_IMPUTE). The data in EXPN, DTAB, and DTAB_IMPUTE files are categorized by a Universal Classification Code (UCC). The advantage of the EXPN and DTAB files is that with the data classified in a standardized format, the user may perform comparative expenditure (income) analysis with relative ease. The FMLY and MEMB files present data on the characteristics and demographics of CUs and CU members. The summary level expenditure and income information on the FMLY files permits the data user to link consumer spending, by general expenditure category, and household characteristics and demographics on one set of files.
Estimates of average expenditures in 2006 from the Diary survey, integrated with data from the Interview survey, are published in Consumer Expenditures in 2006. A list of recent publications containing data from the CE appears at the end of this documentation.
The microdata files are in the public domain and, with appropriate credit, may be reproduced without permission. A suggested citation is: “U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey, Diary Survey, 2006”.
The Diary survey PUMD are organized into five major data files for each quarter:
- FMLD - a file with characteristics, income, and summary level expenditures for the household
- MEMD - a file with characteristics and income for each member in the household
- EXPD - a detailed weekly expenditure file categorized by UCC
- DTBD - a detailed annual income file categorized by UCC
- DTID - a household imputed income file categorized by UCC
Sample survey data [ssd]
Consumer Unit
Scope
- Food and Drinks Away from Home
- Food and Drinks for Home Consumption
- Clothing, Shoes, Jewelry, and Accessories
- All Other Products, Services, and Expenses
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| United State Census Bureau |
Sampling
A. SURVEY SAMPLE DESIGN
Samples for the CE are national probability samples of households designed to be representative of the total U. S. civilian population. Eligible population includes all civilian noninstitutional persons.
The first step in sampling is the selection of primary sampling units (PSUs), which consist of counties (or parts thereof) or groups of counties. The set of sample PSUs used for the 2006 sample is composed of 91 areas. The design classifies the PSUs into four categories:
• 21 "A" certainty PSUs are Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA's) with a population greater than 1.5 million.
• 38 "X" PSUs, are medium-sized MSAs.
• 16 "Y" PSUs are nonmetropolitan areas that are included in the CPI.
• 16 "Z" PSUs are nonmetropolitan areas where only the urban population data will be included in the CPI.
The sampling frame (that is, the list from which housing units were chosen) for the 2006 survey is generated from the 2000 Population Census file. The sampling frame is augmented by new construction permits and by techniques used to eliminate recognized deficiencies in census coverage. All Enumeration Districts (EDs) from the Census that fail to meet the criterion for good addresses for new construction, and all EDs in nonpermit-issuing areas are grouped into the area segment frame.
To the extent possible, an unclustered sample of units is selected within each PSU. This lack of clustering is desirable because the sample size of the Diary Survey is small relative to other surveys, while the intraclass correlations for expenditure characteristics are relatively large. This suggests that any clustering of the sample units could result in an unacceptable increase in the within-PSU variance and, as a result, the total variance.
Each selected sample unit is requested to keep two 1-week diaries of expenditures over consecutive weeks. The earliest possible day for placing a diary with a household is predesignated with each day of the week having an equal chance to be the first of the reference week. The diaries are evenly spaced throughout the year.
B. COOPERATION LEVELS
The annual target sample size at the United States level for the Diary Survey is 7,200 participating sample units. To achieve this target the total estimated work load is 12,200 sample units. This allows for refusals, vacancies, or nonexistent sample unit addresses.
Each participating sample unit selected is asked to keep two 1-week diaries. Each diary is treated independently, so response rates are based on twice the number of housing units sampled.
The response rate for the 2006 Diary Survey is 74.2%. This response rate refers to all diaries in the year.
Each CU included in the CE represents a given number of CUs in the U.S. population, which is considered to be the universe. The translation of sample families into the universe of families is known as weighting. However, since the unit of analysis for the CE is a CU, the weighting is performed at the CU level. Several factors are involved in determining the weight for each CU for which a diary is obtained. There are four basic steps in the weighting procedure:
- The basic weight is assigned to an address and is the inverse of the probability of selection of the housing unit.
- A weight control factor is applied to each diary if subsampling is performed in the field.
- A noninterview adjustment is made for units where data could not be collected from occupied housing units. The adjustment is performed as a function of region, housing tenure, family size and race.
- A final adjustment is performed to adjust the sample estimates to national population controls derived from the Current Population Survey. The adjustments are made based on both the CU's member composition and on the CU as a whole.
The weight for the CU is adjusted for individuals within the CU to meet the controls for the 14 age/race categories, 4 regions, and 4 region/urban categories. The CU weight is also adjusted to meet the control for total number of CUs and total number of CU who own their living quarters. The weighting procedure uses an iterative process to ensure that the sample estimates will meet all the population controls.
NOTE: The weight for a consumer unit (CU) can be different for each week in which the CU participates in the survey as the CU may represent a different number of CUs with similar characteristics.
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2006 | 2006 |
Access policy
ILO Microdata Repository
ILO Microdata Repository
http://www.ilo.org/surveydata/index.php/catalog/345
Cost: None
Data Access
Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the Identification of the Primary Investigator
- the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
- the survey reference number
- the source and date of download
Example:
United States Census Bureau. United States Consumer Expenditure Diary Survey (CES-DS) 2006. Ref. USA_2006_CES-DS_v01_M. Dataset downloaded from [URL] on [date].
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Metadata production
DDI_USA_2006_CES-DS_v01_M
| Name |
|---|
| International Labour organization |
2014-05
Metadata version
Version 02 (September 2016): Edited version based on Version 01 DDI (DDI_USA_2006_CES_DS_V01_M) that was done by International Labour Organisation.