Federal Reserve Economic Data

The FRED Blog has discussed how consuming news over the internet has reduced employment in the print media industry. Today we explore a related topic: how firms are gradually shifting from print media to digital platforms to advertise their products.

The FRED graph above shows data from the US Census Bureau on the dollar value of revenue collected by newspapers from selling two types of advertisements: classified (the blue area) and all other (the green area). The data, between 2013 and 2021, are shown as stacked areas to easily observe their change over that period: Classified ads have generally amounted to around 20% of the total advertising revenue for newspapers and their dollar value has shrunk by almost half. Revenue from other types of advertisements, amounting to the remaining 80% of total advertising revenue, has shrunk by a third. These trends seem to align with the declining economic footprint of newspapers. So, where are the missing advertising dollars?

Consumers are shifting their eyes from print media to digital devices, and advertisements are following them there. Recent research from Ricardo Marto and Hoang Le at the St. Louis Fed has examined the economic implications of the rise in digital advertising.

Their work suggests that recent valuations of the digital advertising market might be as large as 1.1% of gross domestic product—the broadest measure of annual US economic activity. They also argue that digital advertising allows for more accurate tailoring of ads to consumers, giving firms more market power to set prices for the products they sell.

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 “Breakdown of Revenue by Advertising Type: Newspapers Advertising Space – Classified Advertising for Newspaper Publishers, All Establishments, Employer Firms.” Click on the “Edit Graph” button, select the “Add Line” tab, and search for “Breakdown of Revenue by Advertising Type: Newspapers Advertising Space – All Other Advertising for Newspaper Publishers, All Establishments, Employer Firms.” Don’t forget to click “Add data series.” Last, use the “Format” tab to select “Graph type: Area” and “Stacking: Normal.”

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.

How many government employees are there in the United States? At the time of this writing, there are a little less than 23 million public employees, distributed across the three levels of government: 14.9 million in local government (in green), 5.5 million in state government (in red), and 2.4 million in the federal government (in blue). The FRED graph above shows how these numbers have evolved.

What’s striking is that the federal government workforce has remained relatively flat over seven decades, while the lower levels show steady increases. Federal employment also has regular spikes, corresponding to temporary hires to conduct the decennial census.

Of course, over such a long period, the population of the United States would have increased considerably. So it probably makes more sense to look at the public workforce as a percentage of the population. This is what the second graph below does. Now we can see that federal public employment has been slowly declining since 1959, state employment stopped growing in the 1990s, and local employment stopped as well in the 2000s.

How these graphs were created: First graph: Look for the Current Employment Statistics (Establishment Data) releases and select Table B-1. Select the three series shown and add them to the graph. Second graph: Take the first, click on “Edit Graph,” add the population series, and apply formula a/b*100. Repeat for the two other lines.

Suggested by Christian Zimmermann.

Buckle up and come along on a joyful ride with FRED. Like a three-point turn, this post covers the average maturity of new and used car loans by making three maneuvers.

First, we define the terms. The maturity of a car loan is the target date for full repayment of the borrowed amount. It can be reported in years or months. A value-weighted maturity refers to assigning more importance to loans that are for a larger percentage of the vehicle’s value.

Second, we describe the data. The FRED graph above shows data from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on the value-weighted average maturity of car loans. Both the blue line tracking new cars and the green line tracking used cars reveal a rising trend since 2009. Also, the value-weighted average maturity of loans for used cars had been consistently lower than that for new cars. But since 2022, both weighted-maturity averages are effectively the same. What gives?

Third, we analyze the data. The rising average value-weighted maturity of loans for used cars can be the result of two different factors:

(a) Used car owners may be taking on loans with longer maturities and repayment schedules.

(b) They may be financing a rising proportion of the vehicle’s value, as high as that financed by new car owners.

Research by Robert Adams, Vitaly Bord, and Haja Sannoh suggests it’s b that’s driving the recent trend in these data.

How this graph was created: Search FRED for and select “Average Maturity of New Car Loans at Finance Companies, Amount of Finance Weighted.” From the “Edit Graph” panel, use the “Add Line” tab to search for and select “Average Maturity of Used Car Loans at Finance Companies, Amount of Finance Weighted.”

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.