Review of the 2010 Sample Redesign of the Consumer Expenditure Survey

• Activity Number: 251
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 10, 2015 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Survey Research Methods Section
• Author(s): Danielle Neiman* and Susan King and David Swanson and Stephen Ash and Jacob Enriquez and Joshua Rosenbaum
• Companies: U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau
• Keywords: Sample-design stratification ; sample selection ; sample allocation ; first-stage sample design ; second-stage sample design ; Consumer Expenditure Survey

Abstract

The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) is a nationwide household survey conducted jointly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau to investigate how Americans spend their money. Every ten years the survey updates its sample of geographic areas around the country as well as its sample of households in those geographic areas based on the latest decennial census to ensure the sample accurately reflects shifts in the American population. This paper describes CE's latest sample design that will be used over the next ten years (2015-2024), including research that went into its decisions. Topics include the coordination of CE's household sample with other household surveys conducted by the Census Bureau, and a new annual sampling methodology used by all Census Bureau household surveys.