Consumer prices for alcoholic beverages since 2003

Whether you're celebrating the holidays at home or out on the town, you may be on tap to treat yourself or your friends to a beer or some other alcoholic beverage. From January 2003 to October 2015, the Consumer Price Index for alcoholic beverages increased 30 percent. Over that period, consumer prices for alcoholic beverages purchased for consumption away from home increased 46 percent, compared with 20 percent for those purchased for consumption at home. Prices for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials increased 20 percent.

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Personal consumption expenditure-related employment during the recession and projections to 2022

More U.S. jobs directly or indirectly relate to consumer spending than to all other sectors of the economy combined. In 2007, which was the business cycle peak prior to the latest economic downturn, 85.1 million nonagricultural wage and salary jobs related to consumer spending; these jobs were 61.5 percent of total nonagricultural wage and salary employment in the United States. But unlike GDP, the percentage of U.S. jobs tied to consumption has fluctuated within a relatively stable range since the late 1970s because of labor-saving technologies and increased consumption of imports.

Between 1993 and 2007, consumer-related employment fluctuated between 60 and 62 percent of total employment—at the lower end of the historic range dating to the late 1970s—when the percentage of investment-related employment increased to fuel economic expansion. But in 2009, the worst year of the recession, personal consumption expenditure (PCE)-related employment increased to 63 percent of U.S. employment and then rose again in 2011 and 2012.

More from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

THE MEATLESS MONDAY PHENOMENON

Going meatless on Monday has become a phenomenon in the U.S. and 29 other countries. We worked with Health Perch to create this Infographic about Meatless Monday, the health effects of meat, and the future of meat of consumption.

Did you know that cutting back on meat one day a week will reduce your saturated fat intake by 15%? Try going meatless on Mondays to start living a healthier life.

SEE THE INFOGRAPHIC.

An Analysis of U.S. Household Dairy Demand

From the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

This report examines retail purchase data for 12 dairy products and margarine from the Nielsen 2007 Homescan retail data. Selected demographic and socioeconomic variables included in the Nielsen data are analyzed for their effects on aggregate demand and expenditure elasticities for the selected products