2020 – Midyear Update Consumer Expenditures Surveys — 2021-04-29

Average expenditures per consumer unit(1) for July 2019 through June 2020 were down 1.1 percent compared with the previous midyear average (July 2018 through June 2019), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) rose 1.6 percent, and average pretax incomes increased 3.3 percent. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CE) measure how consumers allocate their spending among the various components of total expenditures. According to the BLS, most major components of household spending decreased.(See table A.) The 15.5-percent decline in miscellaneous spending was the largest percentage decrease among all major components, followed by a 14.0-percent drop in apparel and services. Food away from home (-12.8 percent) and entertainment (-10.1 percent) spending also had notable declines. The largest increase over the period was a 9.9-percent rise in cash contributions.