Spend Thanksgiving Day with BLS!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. As we start to think about how we will celebrate, it might be hard to imagine the ties between BLS statistics and celebrating Thanksgiving. So, here’s a short tour of a typical Thanksgiving Day as seen through a few BLS statistics. Enjoy!

9:00 a.m. Put the turkey in the oven

All good chefs know the key to a successful Thanksgiving feast is to get the turkey in the oven bright and early. Whether you are roasting your turkey or firing up a deep fryer in the driveway, you will have to pay more for the fuel. The Consumer Price Index for household energy was pretty stable through 2019 and the first half of 2020 but then started a steady rise in September 2020.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

10:00 a.m. Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused ups and downs in the labor market, much like the impact of a windy day for the famous balloons in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Keeping with the department store theme, employment in department stores plunged 25.3 percent in April 2020 but then rose 14.1 percent June 2020. These gyrations were more dramatic than the broader retail trade sector.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

2:00 p.m. Scope out Black Friday deals

After watching the parade, it’s time to plan our Black Friday shopping! As consumers, we are always trying to get more for less. In the retail trade industry, it turns out they are doing just that. The industry has produced more output with steady or decreasing hours worked. The result is a corresponding increase in labor productivity. Now, only if we could prepare a bigger Thanksgiving feast in less time!

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

4:00 p.m. Play touch football

We need to make some room of the feast we are about to enjoy, so we assemble willing participants and play some touch football in the yard. The American Time Use Survey is the best source of information on how Americans spend their time each day. In this case, let’s compare how much time people spend playing sports versus how much time they spend watching sports on TV. We’ll look only at time spent in these activities on weekend days and holidays. The survey does not have details on what people watch on TV, but we can assume some time reported here is spent watching sports.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

We can see that Americans, on average, easily spend more time watching TV—3.36 hours—than playing sports—0.34 hours. But what is more interesting is that, on average, those who watch TV watch about 24 percent more than the overall population. However, those who play sports play, on average, nearly 6 times as many hours as the average for the population.

6:00 p.m. Thanksgiving feast

No matter what is on your dinner table this Thanksgiving, chances are it will cost more than previous years. All six major grocery store food groups in the Consumer Price Index for food at home continued to rise sharply in October 2021. Even if you decide to order out, it will set you back a bit more this year. Both full-service meals and limited services meals rose nearly 1 percent in October 2021.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

7:00 p.m. Watch football

Now that we’ve finished our delicious feast, it’s a time-honored tradition to watch a bit of football on TV. If you are buying a new TV for this holiday, you can expect to pay a bit more. After years of steady declines, import prices for television and video receivers have reversed trend in 2021, much like a wide receiver changing direction to find an opening and catch a game-winning touchdown pass!

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

9:00 p.m. Say goodbye

It’s hard to say goodbye to your friends and family. In the United States, however, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey is showing that workers are saying goodbye to their employers more often these days. The number of quits has been rising steadily since the shock of the pandemic affected layoffs and discharges in early 2020. (It’s only a coincidence that the layoffs line in the chart below looks like the outline of a pilgrim’s hat.)

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Now we’ve come to the end of our Thanksgiving feast of BLS data. Our hunger for the premier statistics on the U.S. labor force, prices, and productivity, has been satisfied, and we can rest easily knowing there’s a stat for that!