- INTERVIEW SURVEY PUBLIC-USE ….doc

1980-81 INTERVIEW SURVEY PUBLIC-USE MICRODATA DOCUMENTATION Revised and Expanded, June, 1994 Last update: July 7, 1996  Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION I. INTRODUCTION This public-use tape presents detailed income and expenditure data from the Interview component of the ongoing Consumer Expenditure Survey. These data were published in 1983 in Consumer Expenditure Survey: Interview Survey 1980-81, Bulletin 2225. Data from the Diary component were published in 1983 in Consumer Expenditure Survey: Diary Survey, 1980-81, Bulletin 2173. Data for both components were collected during 1980 and 1981, the first two years of the ongoing survey program. A list of publications containing data from the survey is shown at the end of this documentation. The Consumer Expenditure Survey program provides a continuous and comprehensive flow of data on the buying habits of American consumers. These data are used widely in economic research and analysis, and in revisions of the Consumer Price Index. To meet the needs of users, BLS makes the data available in news releases, bulletins, articles in the Monthly Labor Review, and public-use computer tapes. Data on this tape are in the public domain and, with appropriate credit, may be reproduced without permission (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey, Interview Survey, 1980-81). II. DESCRIPTION OF THE SURVEY The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) program consists of two separate components: 1) a Quarterly Interview panel survey in which each consumer unit (CU) in the sample is interviewed every 3 months over five consecutive quarters, and 2) a Diary or record keeping survey completed by the sample consumer units for two consecutive 1-week periods. Each component has its own questionnaire and independent sample. The Quarterly Interview portion of the program is designed to collect data on major items of expense which respondents can be expected to recall for 3 months or longer