An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Bureau of Labor Statistics > Consumer Expenditure Survey > Home

Gemini Project to Redesign the Consumer Expenditure Survey

Comparison to Current Design

The new design will still collect total aggregate annual expenditures and be representative of the U.S. civilian non-institutionalized population. The interviews will still be in-person and cover a 3-month recall period. However, there are a number of changes included in the new design to improve data quality and reduce respondent burden. Some of the more notable changes include:

There will be two interview waves set 12 months apart as opposed to the current design of four interview waves, one per quarter.
There will be a single, integrated sample as opposed to the current design which has a separate sample for the Interview survey and the Diary survey.
The new design will include individual diaries for every member of the household who is 15 years of age or older instead of a single diary for the whole household.
There will only be one week of diary keeping as opposed to the two weeks in the current design.
There will be less expenditure detail available in the new design.
The new design will include several performance-based incentives to improve respondent participation. There are no incentives in the current design.
Web-based diaries will be used instead of paper diaries wherever possible.

Last Modified Date: December 18, 2013