Number: RL34185
Title: Consumer Spending by Older Americans, 1985 to 2005
Authors: Patrick Purcell, Domestic Social Policy Division 
Abstract: This report presents data on spending by Americans aged 55 and older collected by the U.S. Department of Labor through its Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES). CES data are used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to develop the market basket of goods and services that are sampled to measure the rate of price inflation, as reported in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This report presents summary information on trends in spending by older Americans from 1985 to 2005 and a detailed analysis of spending in 2005. The data are presented mainly in charts in the body of the report, but tables showing the data on which each of the charts is based are included in an appendix.
Pages: 67
Date: September 24, 2007