One Year Look-Ahead Expectations: Household Income, Inflation, Spending

Every month, the NY Fed conducts a survey of consumer expectations. The top chart is from the Fed, I created the others.

Please consider the New York Fed Survey of Consumer Expectations for September 2018.

In the September survey, one-year- and three-year-ahead inflation expectations held at 3.0 percent. Respondents’ expectations at both horizons have been virtually unchanged since April 2018. Results also showed that median one-year-ahead earnings growth expectations increased 0.3 percentage points in September to 2.8 percent, an all-time high for the series.

Study Methodology

The SCE is a nationally representative, Internet-based survey of a rotating panel of approximately 1,300 household heads. Respondents participated in the panel for up to twelve months, with a roughly equal number rotating in and out of the panel each month. Unlike comparable surveys based on repeated cross-sections with a different set of respondents in each wave, our panel enables us to observe the changes in expectations and behavior of the same individuals over time.

One can download the survey data and create better-looking charts. Here are a few charts I created.

One Year Ahead Household Income Projections

One Year Ahead Household Inflation Projections

One Year Ahead Household Spending Projections

Income Synopsis

25 Percent Level: 0.75% Income Increase vs. 0.92% last month.

Median: 2.52 Income Increase vs. 2.81% last month.

75 Percent Level: 5.41% Income Increase vs. 5.88% last month.

Inflation Synopsis

Spending Synopsis

25 Percent Level: 0.46% Spending Increase vs. 0.69% last month

Median: 2.94% Spending Increase vs. 3.15% last month

75 Percent Level: 6.82% Spending Increase vs. 8.28% last month

Assumptions