Consumer Expenditures in 2020

In December of 2021, the most recent data processed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was released sharing consumer spending patterns and expenditure changes for 2020. Consumer expenditures were noticeably affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in March 2020. Some changes were expected (for example, expenditures for food away from home and public transportation decreased sharply), but others are surprising (for example, expenditures for healthcare were nearly unchanged, decreasing slightly).