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The last full week in September is Banned Books Week, an annual occurrence when booksellers, libraries, and educators celebrate the freedom to read. This event draws attention to book censorship and numerous media outlets reveal the most-banned book titles of the year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has data available that show how much consumers spend on books and other published material, as well as employment in book and publishing-related industries.
In 2013, consumers spent an average of $29.20 on books not purchased through book clubs. Among different age groups, consumers age 55 to 64 years spent the most ($40.28) on books (not through book clubs) and those under 25 years spent the least ($12.56). In recent years, digital book readers have become more popular and consumers spent an average of $30.18 on digital book readers in 2013. Those ages 35 to 44 years spent $51.73 on digital book readers in 2013, the most of any age group. Newspaper and magazine-subscription spending was highest among consumers age 55 and above.
Item | All consumer units | Under 25 years | 25-34 years | 35-44 years | 45-54 years | 55-64 years | 65-74 years | 75 years and older |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Newspaper, magazine by subscription |
$31.64 | $2.79 | $7.13 | $12.38 | $21.81 | $46.89 | $63.47 | $76.38 |
Newspaper, magazine non-subscription |
7.98 | 1.09 | 3.57 | 6.35 | 6.90 | 10.42 | 14.71 | 11.84 |
Books through book clubs |
3.03 | 1.59 | 1.92 | 2.32 | 2.31 | 3.86 | 6.53 | 2.47 |
Books not through book clubs |
29.20 | 12.56 | 22.45 | 31.28 | 24.45 | 40.28 | 35.98 | 28.11 |
Digital book readers |
30.18 | 27.73 | 24.68 | 51.73 | 32.01 | 29.48 | 25.29 | 7.31 |
Employment in book-related industries has decreased dramatically over the last ten years as consumers continue to turn to online news and e-book sites for information. Employment in book stores and news dealers (part of the retail industry) has declined 30 percent since June 2009, the end of the most recent recession. In May 2011, employment in internet publishing and web search portals (part of the information industry) surpassed that of book stores and news dealers, and has increased 47 percent since then. From July 2004 to July 2014, employment among book publishers (also part of the information industry) declined 18 percent.
Month | Book publishers | Internet publishing and broadcasting and web search portals | Book stores and news dealers |
---|---|---|---|
Jan 2004 |
80,500 | 65,500 | 151,100 |
Feb 2004 |
79,600 | 66,300 | 152,500 |
Mar 2004 |
80,700 | 65,800 | 153,100 |
Apr 2004 |
81,400 | 65,800 | 152,600 |
May 2004 |
82,000 | 66,000 | 153,100 |
Jun 2004 |
82,300 | 66,900 | 153,100 |
Jul 2004 |
82,300 | 66,200 | 153,800 |
Aug 2004 |
82,400 | 65,800 | 153,700 |
Sep 2004 |
82,400 | 65,400 | 159,900 |
Oct 2004 |
83,700 | 66,200 | 153,700 |
Nov 2004 |
83,000 | 66,200 | 153,000 |
Dec 2004 |
82,500 | 66,200 | 153,300 |
Jan 2005 |
82,400 | 66,600 | 152,700 |
Feb 2005 |
82,300 | 65,800 | 149,900 |
Mar 2005 |
82,400 | 65,900 | 151,500 |
Apr 2005 |
81,900 | 66,200 | 150,700 |
May 2005 |
81,800 | 66,400 | 149,200 |
Jun 2005 |
82,400 | 66,600 | 153,000 |
Jul 2005 |
83,800 | 66,700 | 150,000 |
Aug 2005 |
82,500 | 67,200 | 150,300 |
Sep 2005 |
82,200 | 68,100 | 150,100 |
Oct 2005 |
81,900 | 68,200 | 149,600 |
Nov 2005 |
81,900 | 68,800 | 149,700 |
Dec 2005 |
82,500 | 69,400 | 150,000 |
Jan 2006 |
82,200 | 69,300 | 151,200 |
Feb 2006 |
82,200 | 70,500 | 150,600 |
Mar 2006 |
82,800 | 70,600 | 149,500 |
Apr 2006 |
83,000 | 70,500 | 149,200 |
May 2006 |
82,400 | 70,100 | 149,000 |
Jun 2006 |
82,100 | 69,100 | 147,000 |
Jul 2006 |
82,100 | 67,600 | 141,400 |
Aug 2006 |
82,200 | 68,500 | 148,800 |
Sep 2006 |
82,500 | 68,200 | 146,200 |
Oct 2006 |
82,700 | 68,100 | 146,500 |
Nov 2006 |
82,400 | 68,200 | 146,300 |
Dec 2006 |
82,600 | 68,500 | 145,900 |
Jan 2007 |
82,800 | 68,200 | 145,600 |
Feb 2007 |
82,900 | 68,100 | 147,200 |
Mar 2007 |
82,000 | 68,800 | 149,500 |
Apr 2007 |
81,700 | 70,500 | 149,400 |
May 2007 |
82,100 | 72,100 | 150,600 |
Jun 2007 |
81,600 | 73,000 | 148,900 |
Jul 2007 |
81,600 | 73,800 | 148,500 |
Aug 2007 |
81,200 | 74,600 | 146,900 |
Sep 2007 |
80,600 | 75,900 | 146,900 |
Oct 2007 |
80,400 | 76,400 | 147,800 |
Nov 2007 |
80,400 | 76,600 | 146,900 |
Dec 2007 |
79,300 | 76,700 | 147,100 |
Jan 2008 |
80,400 | 77,900 | 152,300 |
Feb 2008 |
80,700 | 79,500 | 148,700 |
Mar 2008 |
81,100 | 80,500 | 145,900 |
Apr 2008 |
81,000 | 79,900 | 145,400 |
May 2008 |
80,800 | 79,600 | 145,700 |
Jun 2008 |
81,000 | 79,800 | 143,500 |
Jul 2008 |
80,700 | 80,600 | 140,500 |
Aug 2008 |
80,800 | 80,900 | 143,200 |
Sep 2008 |
81,200 | 80,900 | 142,700 |
Oct 2008 |
82,100 | 81,400 | 140,500 |
Nov 2008 |
80,800 | 81,900 | 139,100 |
Dec 2008 |
80,200 | 83,200 | 138,100 |
Jan 2009 |
79,900 | 82,800 | 136,600 |
Feb 2009 |
79,100 | 82,500 | 132,400 |
Mar 2009 |
78,500 | 83,000 | 130,700 |
Apr 2009 |
77,900 | 82,100 | 130,000 |
May 2009 |
77,300 | 82,800 | 127,900 |
Jun 2009 |
76,000 | 82,900 | 127,300 |
Jul 2009 |
76,600 | 82,100 | 125,800 |
Aug 2009 |
75,900 | 81,600 | 125,400 |
Sep 2009 |
75,100 | 83,300 | 132,100 |
Oct 2009 |
74,300 | 84,700 | 127,800 |
Nov 2009 |
74,800 | 85,600 | 126,200 |
Dec 2009 |
75,400 | 85,800 | 125,600 |
Jan 2010 |
73,900 | 87,000 | 126,100 |
Feb 2010 |
73,700 | 87,700 | 126,900 |
Mar 2010 |
73,700 | 88,000 | 121,900 |
Apr 2010 |
73,600 | 89,100 | 122,400 |
May 2010 |
73,300 | 89,800 | 121,200 |
Jun 2010 |
73,000 | 91,200 | 121,400 |
Jul 2010 |
72,600 | 92,600 | 118,700 |
Aug 2010 |
72,800 | 94,400 | 118,900 |
Sep 2010 |
72,500 | 94,800 | 118,000 |
Oct 2010 |
72,300 | 95,000 | 115,600 |
Nov 2010 |
72,500 | 96,700 | 116,500 |
Dec 2010 |
72,300 | 97,600 | 116,000 |
Jan 2011 |
72,400 | 99,400 | 113,000 |
Feb 2011 |
72,700 | 100,700 | 111,500 |
Mar 2011 |
72,200 | 100,800 | 111,900 |
Apr 2011 |
72,800 | 105,300 | 108,100 |
May 2011 |
73,000 | 107,000 | 105,200 |
Jun 2011 |
73,300 | 110,700 | 104,200 |
Jul 2011 |
73,600 | 112,700 | 104,700 |
Aug 2011 |
73,300 | 113,700 | 103,600 |
Sep 2011 |
72,700 | 114,600 | 102,900 |
Oct 2011 |
72,500 | 115,900 | 95,600 |
Nov 2011 |
72,000 | 116,100 | 93,400 |
Dec 2011 |
72,100 | 117,900 | 92,000 |
Jan 2012 |
71,700 | 118,700 | 90,400 |
Feb 2012 |
71,100 | 119,700 | 93,300 |
Mar 2012 |
70,800 | 121,100 | 93,800 |
Apr 2012 |
70,600 | 121,700 | 94,000 |
May 2012 |
70,400 | 123,000 | 94,400 |
Jun 2012 |
71,100 | 123,400 | 92,200 |
Jul 2012 |
71,000 | 125,100 | 89,900 |
Aug 2012 |
70,700 | 126,300 | 94,100 |
Sep 2012 |
71,300 | 128,200 | 94,400 |
Oct 2012 |
70,800 | 129,800 | 93,000 |
Nov 2012 |
69,900 | 131,800 | 94,600 |
Dec 2012 |
70,300 | 133,500 | 93,800 |
Jan 2013 |
69,700 | 134,400 | 95,700 |
Feb 2013 |
69,600 | 135,500 | 93,400 |
Mar 2013 |
68,600 | 136,700 | 90,300 |
Apr 2013 |
70,800 | 137,700 | 92,100 |
May 2013 |
70,500 | 139,500 | 92,600 |
Jun 2013 |
68,500 | 139,400 | 94,600 |
Jul 2013 |
67,800 | 141,900 | 93,800 |
Aug 2013 |
68,100 | 144,100 | 89,700 |
Sep 2013 |
67,900 | 143,400 | 86,900 |
Oct 2013 |
67,800 | 146,500 | 91,800 |
Nov 2013 |
67,800 | 146,100 | 89,700 |
Dec 2013 |
67,900 | 145,900 | 89,400 |
Jan 2014 |
68,300 | 149,600 | 88,400 |
Feb 2014 |
67,600 | 150,300 | 86,300 |
Mar 2014 |
67,600 | 151,000 | 88,900 |
Apr 2014 |
67,300 | 152,300 | 91,000 |
May 2014 |
67,300 | 153,500 | 91,100 |
Jun 2014 |
67,700 | 155,500 | 91,500 |
Jul 2014(p) |
67,200 | 157,400 | 89,600 |
Footnotes: (p) preliminary. |
These data are from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and Current Employment Statistics (National) program. Average annual expenditures are based on all households including those not reporting any expenditures for those items. Employment data are seasonally adjusted. For more information on Banned Books Week, visit the American Library Association website.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Spending and employment related to books and other reading materials at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2014/ted_20140926.htm (visited November 07, 2024).