Federal Reserve Economic Data

The FRED graph above tracks retail sales since 1992, split into two major categories: general retail and food and drink services specifically. To protect our analysis from inflationary illusions, we’ve deflated the series by the consumer price index (CPI).

Both retail categories have increased steadily over time, with declines during the financial crisis and the COVID pandemic. With the pandemic, the data are more interesting: After both series initially dipped, food and drink services struggled to return to previous levels, while general retail shot back up to an even higher level. Both series have stagnated for a couple of years now.

The second graph (below) provides some details on the retail side and shows some stark differences.

It should be no surprise that department stores continue to struggle while mail-order retail (including online shopping) has been booming for many years, including an explosion during the pandemic. What may be less familiar is that liquor stores were one of the very few types of retail stores that did well during the pandemic. This extra business lasted for a few years but has now settled back to previous levels.

So, if sales at restaurants and bars and liquor stores are stagnating, does this mean the US population is sobering up after a drowsy pandemic? To understand this better, we use one more graph (below) to reveal the wholesale of alcoholic beverages, again adjusted for inflation. And, indeed, sales are way down after a peak during the pandemic.

How these graphs were created: From FRED, navigate to the Census Bureau’s Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services by Kind of Business release table. Select the series to display and click “Add to Graph.” From the “Edit Graph” panel, use the “Edit Line” tab to search for “CPI” and apply the formula a/b*100. For the second graph, also change the units for each line to 100 in 2020-02-01. For the third graph, search FRED for and select “alcohol sales.” From the “Edit Graph” panel, again add CPI to the line and apply formula a/b*100.

Suggested by Christian Zimmermann.

The FRED Blog has discussed population changes, including movement in and out of the United States and across US counties. Today, we consider the related question of what influences a worker who works from home to relocate to another state?

The FRED map above shows data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on the percent change in the size of each state’s labor force in 2024. A careful review of the map shows that all states recorded at least some growth in their labor force. However, there were large differences: from 0.02% growth in Delaware to 2.59% growth in Washington, DC.

FRED doesn’t currently have data on what fraction of the labor force works remotely, but recent research from the St. Louis Fed sheds some light on those patterns.

Alexander Bick, Adam Blandin, Cassandra Marks, Karel Mertens, and Hannah Rubinton studied the reasons that commuters and remote workers relocated. They found that remote workers most frequently moved for reasons related to housing. Thus, the affordability of regional housing markets likely weighed heavily in their decisions and could partly be reflected in faster growth in some states’ labor forces.

Of course, other demographic factors (e.g., fertility, immigration) are at play here. But if you’re a remote worker considering relocating to reduce your housing costs, we recommend reading this FRED Blog post on regional price differences.

How this map was created: Search FRED for “Civilian Labor Force in Ohio” and click the “View Map” option. Click on the “Edit Map” option, and under “Units” select “Percent Change from Year Ago.”

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.

The FRED Blog has discussed trends in the construction of new residential housing. Today we tap into new research from the St. Louis Fed to examine a related question: Where and what type of new construction is taking place?

The FRED graph above uses data from the US Census and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to show the number of newly issued residential building permits in three types of construction: multi-family homes (orange dashed line), single-family homes (teal dotted line), and overall (blue solid line). The data are scaled by the number of persons residing in the United States and presented as building permits per 1000 people to easily observe their change over time.

The overall number of residential building permits, measured in proportion to the total population, peaked in 1972 and reached its lowest value in 2009, during the Great Recession. In 2024, the latest data available at the time of this writing, there were 4.3 new building permits issued per 1000 people in the U.S. However, the volume of new construction activity varies greatly with geography.

Recent research from Victoria Gregory and Kevin Bloodworth at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis maps out new residential building activity across metropolitan (that is, urban) areas and helps illuminate ongoing trends in the housing market.

These researchers used annual regional data from 2023, the latest available data they had at the time, and found that major population centers on the West Coast, Northeast, and some of the Great Lakes areas of the Midwest recorded half the number of building permits per 1000 people than the national average. But most metro areas in Arizona, Florida, and Texas recorded substantially larger numbers of building permits than the national average. These disparities can help explain regional price differences in housing markets.

For more about this and other research, visit the publications page of the St. Louis Fed’s website, which offers an array of economic analysis and expertise provided by our staff.

How this graph was created: Search FRED for and select “New Privately-Owned Housing Units Authorized in Permit-Issuing Places: Total Units.” From the “Edit Graph” panel, use the “Edit Line” tab to customize the data by searching for and adding “Population.” Remember to click on the “Add” button. Next, type the formula a/(b/1000) and click on “Apply Formula.” Next, use the “Add Line” tab to search for and add “New Privately-Owned Housing Units Authorized in Permit-Issuing Places: Single-Family Units.” Repeat the steps described above to customize the data and add the multi-family housing units data.

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.