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Consumer Expenditure Surveys
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PUMD ERRATA - FMLI Food at home
Consumer Expenditure Surveys Public Use Microdata: Quarter 2 2023 - Quarter 1 2024 Interview Survey Data
September 25, 2024
To users of the 2023 Consumer Expenditure Surveys Public Use Microdata files:
As part of the Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CE) Redesign project, in 2023 BLS implemented the first phase of streamlined questionnaire changes to the CE Interview Survey questionnaire. One of these changes modified an Interview Survey global question collecting “usual expense” on groceries, removing a follow-up question on what portion of the expense was for non-food items.
This Interview Survey questionnaire revision means that starting in quarter 2 of 2023, it is no longer possible to separate total grocery store purchases collected in the Interview Survey into food expenditures and nonfood expenditures. In keeping with this change, the food-specific grocery expenditure Universal Classification Code (UCC) 790240 ‘food purchases at grocery stores’ ended in quarter 1 of 2023, leaving only UCC 790210 ‘all grocery purchases, including nonfood’ in quarter 2 of 2023 and beyond. Given the expanded scope of 790210, with the inclusion of nonfood grocery items, in 2023 BLS did not include 790210 ‘all grocery purchases, including nonfood’ in the food-related summary variables (FDHOMEPQ and FDHOMECQ) on the FMLI file.
This led to the summary variables FDHOMEPQ and FDHOMECQ being comprised only of UCC 190904, 'groceries purchased on trips.' With this change the values for FDHOMEPQ and FDHOMECQ were much lower than previous quarters. This also had the effect on lowering expenditure amounts for the aggregate summary variables in which FDHOMEPQ and FDHOMECQ are components:
FOODPQ/FOODCQ - Total food expenditures
ETOTALC/ETOTALP - Total outlays
ETOTAPX4/ETOTACX4 - Adjusted total outlays
TOTEXPPQ/TOTEXPCQ - Total expenditures
TOTEX4PQ/TOTEX4CQ - Adjusted total expenditures
To try to maintain consistency from prior years, BLS has reinstated the UCC 790240 and its inclusion in the summary variables FDHOMEPQ and FDHOMECQ. BLS has allocated 80 percent of expenses from UCC 790210, “all grocery purchases, including nonfood,” to UCC 790240, “food purchases at grocery stores.” BLS determined the 80 percent allocation using the 2022 proportion of the total expense of grocery store purchases to food purchased at grocery stores. Quarters 2 and 3 of 2023 Interview Survey microdata have been updated to reflect FDHOMEPQ and FDHOMECQ comprising of both UCCs 190904 and 790240. Quarter 4 of 2023, as well as quarter 1 of 2024 will also reflect this update. If you downloaded data prior to September 25, 2024, please download the updated files for the corrected data.
Beginning with quarter 2 of 2024, BLS will be ending the summary variables FDHOMEPQ and FDHOMECQ along with FOODPQ and FOODCQ, and will create summary variables for Groceries, GROCERYPQ and GROCERYCQ, comprised of UCCs 790210 and 190904. The new variables GROCERYPQ and GROCERYCQ along with FOODAWYPQ and FOODAWYCQ will contribute directly to the aggregate summary variables. Please note, the CE will still collect and publish food-specific grocery expenditures from the Diary Survey in the CE tables, the LABSTAT database, and the public use microdata.
We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us by telephone or email.
Phone – (202) 691-6900
Email – cexinfo@bls.gov
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Consumer Expenditure Surveys