The CRTC issued a press release earlier today to announce “CRTC publishes a citizen’s guide to participating“.
In the release, the CRTC said “According to Statistics Canada, communication services represent the fifth largest family expense for Canadian households.”
In addition, this was highlighted in a section called “Quick Facts”:
- Canadians spend an average of $191/month on communication products and services, the fifth largest family expense.
I tried to source these numbers from Statistics Canada, but could not reconcile them against published data. The CRTC tells me that the $191 figure comes from the soon-to-be released version of the Communications Monitoring Report. It represents a modest increase over the $185 spent a year earlier (2012) and $181 in 2011. To clarify, this figure represents average household spending, not spending by the average Canadian.
According to a CRTC spokesperson, calling the amount a “family expense” was sufficiently clear for readers to understand that the press release was not talking about $191 per Canadian. Are we all clear on that point? Do you agree?
It was more of a challenge to reconcile the statement that asserts communications services represent the fifth largest family expense.
The latest Survey of Household Spending from Statistics Canada reports annual spending by Canadian households. At $191 per month, we are talking about annualized spending in the order of $2,292. How does that rank against other Statistics Canada categories?
The survey shows:
- Shelter ($15,811)
- Income taxes ($13,060)
- Transportation ($11,216)
- Food ($7,739)
- Personal Insurance ($4,272)
- Recreation ($3,773)
- Clothing ($3,461)
- Health care ($2,285)
It appears that communications is tied with health care in the 8th position.
Can anyone reconcile the statement “According to Statistics Canada, communication services represent the fifth largest family expense for Canadian households”?
I think they meant DISCRETIONARY spending. Food, shelter and clothing are not discretionary. And the jump to $191 is a lot. It’s a 3.2% increase which is higher than both CPI and inflation which are both under 1.5%.
Careful not to confuse spending with prices. The monthly bill may have increased due to increased consumption – such as more consumers subscribing to data plans for the first time, increased penetration of mobile, etc.