CE 2023 Public Use Microdata Workshop

The 2023 Consumer Expenditure Surveys Microdata Users' Workshop (July 18-20) has concluded. As the third ever workshop held entirely (or even partially) online, this experience was still new for attendees and planners alike. Based on comments from attendees and observations of planners, this workshop was well received and highly successful. The planners wish to thank our presenters (see below) for a series of excellent presentations. Of course, there would be no workshop without attendees, and we appreciate their investment of time and effort to spend up to three days with us at the "virtual" Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). As usual, our attendees represented a wide range of specialties and occupations. From academia, they included students and professors. They also represented various federal agencies, and private enterprises. Furthermore, they joined from all over the world.

Request for Comments

The workshop concluded with a feedback session to obtain comments from attendees to help us maintain and improve the quality of future workshops. If you attended and provided comments, thank you. However, perhaps you did not have an opportunity to comment on a specific topic; you have had additional thoughts after the workshop; or you would like to follow up on a topic discussed during the session. If so, we invite you to participate by providing your comments at any time by email.

Looking Ahead

Next Workshop. The next workshop will be held in July of 2025. To those who have never attended a workshop, but are interested in doing so, the planners look forward to answering any questions you may have. If you have already attended one, we hope you will join us again. The format varies from year to year as we incorporate recommendations from attendees, so that your experience at the next workshop will differ from that of the workshop(s) you previously attended. Regardless, the workshop is always free of charge to participants; that is, there is never a registration fee for the workshop.

Call for Presenters. Note that it is not too early to consider presenting your work at the 2025 event. Each year, we seek presentations giving practical examples of how the CE microdata can be used in research. Work from first-time and novice users is as welcome as work from experienced users. We only ask that your emphasis be on how the data were used, questions or problems encountered, and similar discussion (i.e., application of the data, rather than hypotheses tested or statistical methods used). (Note: The link for the call-for-presenters is forthcoming, but other than the deadline for submission, the basic procedures are not likely to change from 2023.)

Presenters at the 2023 Consumer Expenditures Survey Workshop

Research Presenters

(in order of presentation)

• Diego Mendez-Carbajo, ^P Ph.D., Senior Economic Education Specialist, and Maria Arias, FRED Data Engineer, both of Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Storytelling with FRED Graphs: CES Data at Your Fingertips.
• Li-Chun Lin, ^P Ph.D., Montclair State University, New Jersey: Investigating the Domestic Travel Spending Trends during 2010-2019.
• Mark Stroud, lecturer in Economics, the College of Staten Island/CUNY: Just What Did You Do Last Summer? An exploration into local and long-distance travel behavior in the Consumer Expenditures Survey Before, During and After the COVID19 Pandemic.
• Jonathan Peters, ^P Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, The College of Staten Island: The Great Outdoors: Household Consumption of Outdoor Recreation from 2000 to 2022.
• Elena Maria Pojman, ^A Ph.D. Student (Sociology and Demography), Pennsylvania State University: How responsive is domestic labor outsourcing to an income shock? Evidence from the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend.
• Lin Shi, ^F,A Ph.D. Candidate (Economics), American University: Examining the Role of Consumer Preferences on U.S. Individuals' Trade Policy Views.
• Lisa Boily, ^P BLS Northeast Information Office: Using Food Stamp Identifiers in the CE Diary Survey: Opportunities and Challenges.
• Christina Lynn, Ph.D. (Author); presented by Geoffrey Paulin, Ph.D.: The Relationship Between Luxury Consumption and Savings Behavior of the Middle Class.
• Van Dinh, ^F Ph.D. Student (Personal Financial Planning), Texas Tech University: TBD: New User's Perspective on CE data.

^F First-time data user.

^A Attendee at previous workshop.

^P Presenter at previous workshop.

BLS Presenters and Instructors

(in order of presentation, where applicable)

Non-DCES Staff:

• Barry Steinberg, Mathematical Statistician, Division of Price Statistical Methods, and Josh Klick, Economist, Division of Consumer Prices and Price Indexes: CE Source Selection (co-presented with Bryan Rigg, CE staff member).
• Brian Nix, Mathematical Statistician, Division of Price Statistical Methods: Development of FINLWT21 and Related Veriables.
• Jonas Trostle, Economist, Monthly Labor Review: Submitting a Monthly Labor Review Article.
• Chris Miller, Economist, Division of Consumer Prices and Price Indexes: How the Consumer Price Index Program Uses CE Data in Cost Weight Estimation.
• Very special thanks to Tywanquila Walker, Research Statistician, Office of Survey Methods Research, who led the Attendee Feedback Session.

DCES Staff

• Scott Curtin
• Adam Safir
• Bryan Rigg
• Grayson Armstrong
• Aaron Cobet
• Brooke Bahner
• Geoffrey Paulin

Non-Presenting Planners:

• Shane Meyers
• Noell Koehlinger

RELATED LINKS:

• Consumer Expenditure Surveys Public-use Microdata Getting Started Guide
• CE Microdata Users' Workshop Archives (Past programs, calls, and related information)
• Public-Use Microdata (PUMD) Home

Last Modified Date: July 27, 2023