Aug 18 -- The Federal Reserve Board of Governors invites comments by October 17, 2023 regarding the revised extension of the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED).
The SHED is an ad hoc voluntary survey covering topics such as individuals' overall financial well-being, employment experiences, income and ability to pay bills, economic preparedness, banking and access to credit, housing and living arrangement decisions, education and human capital, student loans, and retirement planning. The overall content of the SHED depends on changing economic, regulatory, or legislative developments as well as changes in the financial services industry. The Board uses the SHED to monitor usage of emerging financial products and understand how macroeconomic conditions are affecting households.
The FR 3077 has been used once each year to field the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED). The 2019 survey was sent for public comment with the PRA package, although under the ad-hoc clearance the survey questions have changed each year. Relative to the 2019 survey that was provided for public comment, major additions to the most recent (2022) survey included questions on telework, autonomy at work, satisfaction from job changes, non-compete agreements, moves to new locations, renter experiences, natural disasters, car ownership, buy now pay later services, cryptocurrency, student loan forgiveness, inflation, and unemployment insurance receipt. Questions removed from the survey, relative to that fielded in 2019, include ones related to gig work, housing satisfaction, internet access, relationships with landlords, reasons for not attending or completing college, financial assistance from friends and relatives, opioid use, discrimination, experiences with the criminal justice system, and geography where they grew up. In some cases, the removed questions are follow-up questions and the topic remains on the survey with fewer questions or a revised question set.
Since 2013, when the SHED was first collected, the number of respondents has grown in order to increase the level of sub-group analysis. In addition, the SHED has grown in length to collect additional information on topics that are of interest between years and to accommodate the demand for information on new trends and risks that are emerging. It has also become a wellrecognized tool for researchers both within and outside the Federal Reserve System. The SHED’s goals have also expanded to include question modules that can be utilized to quickly respond to the need for information on emerging risks and trends. Due to the growth of the data collection, the anticipation that this collection will continue on an annual basis, the changing nature of the information that is collected and the potential policy, operational, supervisory and
regulatory uses, the Board implemented the SHED as a separate collection in 2017.
The Board proposes to revise the FR 3077 by removing the qualitative ad-hoc surveys, effective November 30, 2023 (however, the annual SHED may still include qualitative components). This revision is to reduce duplication across information collections.
The Board also proposes to provide additional flexibility for new topics related to financial well-being that are covered in the survey. For example, in recent years the survey has included questions on inflation, cryptocurrency, and buy now pay later products which are valuable for understanding financial well-being, and this will allow the Board to cover these and other emerging issues more thoroughly.
Total estimated number of respondents: 20,500.
SHED:
https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/shed.htm
Draft technical documentation:
https://www.federalreserve.gov/reportforms/formsreview/FR%203077%20OMB%20SS%202023.pdf
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-17831