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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Consumer Expenditure Survey > Home

Note to 2005 Consumer Expenditure Public Use Microdata users

To users of the 2005 Consumer Expenditure Survey Public Use Microdata Files:

An error was found in the Diary income files on the 2005 public-use microdata. Addendum files will be sent upon request to all users who have received the original release of the 2005 data. If it is preferred, we will replace the original version of the CD with the corrected version.

To request the "DTBD" addendum files in ASCII or SAS format for the 2005 data or for more information, please contact the Consumer Expenditure Survey at:

Phone - (202) 691-6900

Email - cexinfo@bls.gov

All orders placed after November 13, 2007 will automatically receive the new release of data. The corrected CD-ROMs will have label markings as "SAS Datasets v3" or "ASCII Datasets v3" to distinguish them from the original release CDs.

A description of the error appears below:

Files affected:

Diary SAS files:               Diary ASCII files:
DTBD051.sasbdat           DTBD051.txt
DTBD052.sasbdat           DTBD052.txt
DTBD053.sasbdat           DTBD053.txt
DTBD054.sasbdat           DTBD054.txt

Variables affected:

AMOUNT

An error was discovered in the Diary income files (DTBD) for 2005. For select NEWIDS, the variable AMOUNT corresponding to UCCs 950000 (Federal income taxes) and 950010 (State income taxes) was topcoded when it should not have been. The addendum files included the correct, original value for AMOUNT and the correct corresponding flag (AMOUNT_). The error affected a total of 190 records (48 in 2005Q1, 59 in 2005Q2, 38 in 2005Q3, and 45 in 2005Q4). The error inflated the overall mean for taxes. As a result of the error, the weighted mean for all consumer units increased from $2443.74 to $2459.09 paid for Federal taxes annually (UCC 950000) and from $596.46 to $621.71 paid for State and local income taxes annually (UCC 950010).

For the ease of the users, the entire DTBD files for quarters 2005Q1 – 2005Q4 have been recreated with the corrected values. These files can replace the files of the same names that were found on the original issue of the Consumer Expenditure Survey 2005 microdata CD.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this has caused. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us by telephone or email.

Last Modified Date: November 19, 2007