Federal Reserve Economic Data

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What the young and old spent on reading materials: 2019 vs. 1984

Naturally, reading the free FRED Blog doesn't count

Posted on February 4, 2021

FRED now has data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Surveys, which are used to keep the consumer price index (CPI) up to date with the current basket of goods and services bought by households. Here, we use that survey data to analyze spending on reading materials.*

The FRED graph above shows spending on reading for seven age groups in 2019. Hover over the pie chart slices to see how much each age group spent relative to the total for all age groups. In 2019, persons between 25 and 34 spent the least and persons over 75 spent the most.

The second FRED graph shows the same age groups but from 1984. Back then, persons under 25 spent the least, but persons 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 spent the most. Because the dollar figures for these expenditures in each pie chart aren’t adjusted for changes in the cost of living, we can’t compare the dollar amounts in 2019 with those in 1984. To do that, we need to use the formula described at the bottom of this post.

Nonetheless, we can compare the different expenditure shares across age groups. While in 1984 overall spending on reading was more or less evenly divided across persons from age 26 to 74, by 2019 almost a quarter of it was done by persons older than 75. The growth of digital media and its uneven adoption across age groups could help explain the changing spending on reading.

*Reading includes subscriptions for newspapers and magazines; books through book clubs; e-books and digital reading material; and the purchase of single-copy newspapers, magazines, newsletters, books, and encyclopedias and other reference books, per https://www.bls.gov/cex/csxgloss.htm.

How these graphs were created: Search for and select “Expenditures: Reading by Age: Under Age 25.” From the “Edit Graph” menu, use the “Add Line” tab to search for “Expenditures: Reading by Age: from Age 25 to 34.” Repeat the last step to add “Expenditures: Reading by Age: from Age 35 to 44,” “Expenditures: Reading by Age: from Age 45 to 54,” “Expenditures: Reading by Age: from Age 55 to 64,” “Expenditures: Reading by Age: from Age 65 to 74,” and “Expenditures: Reading by Age: Age 75 or Over.” Next, use the “Format” tab to change graph type to “Pie.” To show data from different years, edit the date above the graph canvas.

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo and Maria Arias.

View on FRED, series used in this post: CXUREADINGLB0402M, CXUREADINGLB0403M, CXUREADINGLB0404M, CXUREADINGLB0405M, CXUREADINGLB0406M, CXUREADINGLB0408M, CXUREADINGLB0409M

Gauging the recovery in retail sales at bars and restaurants

Posted on February 1, 2021

The FRED Blog has discussed how, during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, households cut back on eating out and increased food purchases to prepare meals at home. With data from the U.S. Census Bureau, we created a FRED graph with two lines to compare sales at restaurants and bars with sales at grocery stores.* Today, we use the same Census dataset to re-examine the topic from a different perspective.

The red line in our FRED graph today shows the value of retail sales at restaurants and bars as a fraction of retail sales at grocery stores. We added the black dashed line, with a constant value of 1, to make it easy to see when the two categories of retail sales are equal. And they were essentially equal from March 2019 through February 2020.

In March and April 2020, though, consumers sheltered in place to help reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus and a wide gap opened. Between then and October, retail sales at restaurants and bars slowly climbed back. But in November and December 2020, those sales decreased again. A second wave of virus infections and renewed social distancing, as described by Guillaume Vandenbroucke, could help explain this change in trajectory.

To learn more about the effects of 2020’s second wave of virus infections on overall economic growth, inflation, and unemployment, read the work of William Chen, Marco Del Negro, Shlok Goyal, and Alissa Johnson.

*Technically, we compared inflation-adjusted advanced retail sales from food services and drinking places with inflation-adjusted advanced retail sales from food and beverage stores.

How this graph was created: Search for and select “Advance Retail Sales: Food Services and Drinking Places.” From the “Edit Graph” panel, use the “Edit Line 1” tab to customize the data by searching for and selecting “Advance Retail Sales: Food and Beverage Stores.” Next, create a custom formula to combine the series by typing in “a/b” and clicking “Apply.” Next, use the “Add Line” tab to create a user-defined line. Create a line with start and end values of 1. To change the line colors, use the choices in the “Format” tab.

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.

View on FRED, series used in this post: RSDBS, RSFSDP

The state of the minimum wage

Comparing U.S. state minimum wages in 2010 and 2021

Posted on January 28, 2021

The federal minimum wage has remained constant at $7.25 per hour since July 2009. The real value of this wage has declined over the past decade, and many people discuss if, when, and how this federal minimum should increase.

Not all U.S. workers earning minimum wage, however, have had a stagnant pay rate since 2009. Many U.S. states have increased their minimum wage rates to account for inflation and other changes in cost of living.

These GeoFRED maps display state minimum wage rates in 2010 and 2021. In 2010, 15 states (including Washington, D.C.) had minimum wage rates that exceeded the federal minimum. In 2021, 30 states do.

The 2010 map shows that a few states (AR, CO, GA, MN, WY) had minimum wage rates below the federal level. The 2021 map shows that all states now have minimum wage rates at or above the federal level. Technically, GA and WY still have state minimums of $5.15. But these sub-federal minimum wage rates apply only in select circumstances; in most cases, the higher federal minimum wage supersedes these state minimums. States shaded gray and labeled “No Data Available” don’t have their own state minimum wage laws and thus adhere to the federal minimum wage.

From 2010 to 2021, 32 states increased their minimum wages by varying degrees, with an average of +$3.42. Washington, D.C., increased its wage by the greatest amount (from $8.25 to $15.00, up $6.75), and Florida increased its wage by the lowest amount (from $7.25 to $8.65, up $1.40).

In 2010, Washington state had the highest minimum wage at $8.55; in 2021, Washington, D.C., with its $15 minimum wage, now tops the list. A few states, such as OR and CT, are slated to implement wage increases later in 2021.

How these maps were created: The original post referenced interactive maps from our now discontinued GeoFRED site. The revised post provides replacement maps from FRED’s new mapping tool. To create FRED maps, go to the data series page in question and look for the green “VIEW MAP” button at the top right of the graph. See this post for instructions to edit a FRED map. Only series with a green map button can be mapped.

Suggested by YiLi Chien and Julie Bennett.



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