Thanksgiving
What activities do you have planned for this Thanksgiving? Perhaps cooking and enjoying a meal with family or friends, playing sports or watching sports on television, doing volunteer work, or shopping? Here’s a look at some BLS data behind those Thanksgiving scenes.
Bringing Home the Turkey
On many American tables the focal point of the Thanksgiving dinner is a roast turkey. In recent years, turkey — which stores often promote as a sale item for Thanksgiving and the holiday season — has usually been less expensive during November and December than in other months.
Source: Consumer Price Index | Chart Data
How We Will Spend Our Time
Preparing and eating food and watching television are common activities on Thanksgiving and over the entire holiday weekend. On Thanksgiving holiday weekends between 2003 and 2007, Americans who prepared meals spent an average of 1.1 hours per day doing so, while eating and drinking occupied 1.2 hours per day. Those who watched television spent an average of 3.7 hours per day in front of the TV.
Source: American Time Use Survey | Chart Data
Volunteers
Some Americans volunteer on holidays such as Thanksgiving. Americans who did volunteer work at any time in 2007 were most likely to be affiliated with a religious or educational or youth service organization.
Source: Current Population Survey | Chart Data
Thanksgiving Means Football
For many, Thanksgiving is about watching sports on television. Considering the millions of people who watch spectator sports, it’s interesting to note how few employees —athletes, coaches, referees, food preparers, cashiers, and others — work in the spectator sports industry. Nationwide, there were about 135,000 jobs in the spectator sports industry in 2007; this is about one-tenth of one percent of total private industry employment. The nation’s largest metropolitan areas generally have the most employees in spectator sports.
Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages | Chart Data
Holiday Shopping Season = More Jobs
The day after Thanksgiving is the traditional start of the holiday shopping season and has been hailed as one of the busiest shopping days of the year. While many Americans shop, others work in temporary jobs during the holiday season. In a pattern that is seen year after year, many retail trade industries hire additional seasonal employees beginning in November.
Source: Current Employment Statistics | Chart Data
Note: Data in text, charts and tables are the latest available at the time of publication. Internet links may lead to more recent data.
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