FR3077_20201124_omb

Supporting Statement for the
Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking
(FR 3077; OMB No. 7100-0374)
Summary
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), under authority
delegated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), proposes to extend, for three years,
with revision, the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED) (FR 3077;
OMB No. 7100-0374).1 The FR 3077 questionnaire is used to collect insightful information from
consumers concerning the well-being of U.S. households and how individuals and their families
are faring in the economy.
The collected information could be used for the Board’s Report on the Economic WellBeing of U.S. Households, for Board studies or working papers, professional journals, the
Federal Reserve Bulletin, testimony and reports to the Congress, or other vehicles. The SHED
questionnaire includes such topics as individuals’ overall financial well-being, employment
experiences, income and savings behaviors, economic preparedness, access to banking and
credit, housing and living arrangement decisions, education and human capital, student loans,
and retirement planning. The overall content of the SHED questionnaire depends on changing
economic, regulatory, or legislative developments as well as changes in the financial services
industry.
The Paperwork Reduction Act clearance for the FR 3077 covers both the annual SHED
questionnaire, as well as the potential for the Board to conduct smaller cognitive interviews,
which would involve asking a small group of respondents (up to 30 people) open-ended followup questions in order to understand how respondents interpreted the questions being asked on the
SHED questionnaire. These cognitive interviews could be conducted up to three times per year.
The Board revised the SHED questionnaire by changing some of the core questionnaire
questions to reduce the time respondents spend on specific questions by simplifying the
language, as well as incorporating additional questions on emerging economic issues, and
removing questions that do not require that new data be collected on an annual basis. These
revisions would be effective immediately.
The current estimated total annual burden for the FR 3077 is 10,285 hours, and would
Certain criteria apply to information collections conducted via the Board’s ad hoc clearance process. Such
information collections shall (1) be vetted by the Board’s clearance officer as well as the Division director
responsible for the information collection, (2) display the OMB control number, (3) inform respondents that the
information collection has been approved, (4) be used only in such cases where response is voluntary, (5) not be
used to substantially inform regulatory actions or policy decisions, (6) be conducted only and exactly as described in
the OMB submission, (7) involve only noncontroversial subject matter that will not raise concerns for other Federal
agencies, (8) include information collection instruments that are each conducted only one time, (9) include a detailed
justification of the effective and efficient statistical survey methodology (if applicable), and (10) collect personally
identifiable information (PII) only to the extent necessary (if collecting PII, the form must display current privacy
act notice). In addition, for each information collection instrument, respondent burden will be tracked and submitted
to OMB.
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decrease to 7,705 hours. The revisions would result in a decrease of 2,580 hours. This decline
reflects a combination of a shorter survey instrument relative to the previous collection and
improvements in the data and more accurate methodology for estimating respondent burden.
Background and Justification
Data from the Board’s consumer survey efforts is used to provide timely information on
developments in consumer financial markets, consumer behaviors, and conditions and emerging
economic risks in communities. The information collected under the SHED contributes to Board
studies that explore the activities, experiences, and attitudes of individual consumers regarding
their financial well-being and potential risks to their finances. The Board’s Division of Consumer
and Community Affairs (DCCA) directs consumer- and community-related functions performed
by the Board, including conducting research on financial services policies and practices and their
implications for economic and supervisory policies that are core to the Board’s functions.
Consumer surveys are an important tool for informing the the Board’s understanding of
consumer financial decisions and markets, and the Board has a long history of using surveys to
inform its work in order to gain insight into consumer decisionmaking, consumer financial
stability, community development, and neighborhood stabilization. These insights aid the Board
in promoting a fair and transparent consumer financial services market, including for
traditionally underserved households and neighborhoods.
Since 2013, when the SHED questionnaire was first collected, the number of respondents
has grown in order to increase the level of sub-group analysis. In addition, the questionnaire 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 well-recognized tool for researchers both within and outside the Federal Reserve
System. The SHED’s goal has 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 ad hoc
collection in 2017.2 The resulting reports and survey data (void of sensitive PII) that resulted
from previous and current SHED questionnaires are publicly available on the Board’s public
website.3

2

In 2013, the SHED was conducted as an ad hoc survey under the family of Consumer Financial Stability Surveys
(FR 3053; OMB No. 7100-0323). See https://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/2014-economic-well-being-ofus-households-in-2013-appendix-2.htm. From 2014 through 2016, the SHED was conducted as an anticipated
survey under the generic clearance for Consumer and Stakeholder Surveys (FR 3073; OMB No. 7100-0359). See
https://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/2015-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2014-preface.htm,
https://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/2016-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2015-appendix-b.htm,
and https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2017-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2016-appendixb.htm. Since 2017, the SHED has been collected under its own clearance (FR 3077; OMB No. 7100-0374). See
https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2018-supplemental-appendixes-report-economic-well-being-ushouseholds-2017-overview.htm and https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/files/2018-supplementeconomic-well-being-us-households-201905.pdf (Appendix A).
3
https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/shed_data.htm.

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The information collected in the FR 3077 is generally not available from other sources or
is not available in conjunction with related information included in the collection. In order to
identify and mitigate duplication, the SHED questionnaire is reevaluated annually to identify
new and emerging areas for which the questionnaire can offer new insights and to remove topics
which have limited value given existing data. If this data collection stopped or conducted less
frequently, it would reduce the abilities of the Board to monitor emerging economic issues
identified in the survey, including issues with particular relevance to low- and moderate- income
communities.
Description of Information Collection
The FR 3077 information collection is used to collect voluntary information from
consumers as would provide insight into the economic well-being of U.S. households, as well as
information about how individuals and their families are faring in the economy. The FR 3077
information collection includes the SHED questionnaire, which has both quantitative and
qualitative components. The SHED questionnaire is generally conducted annually. Quantitative
data collected in the questionnaire could include dollar amounts, percentages, numbers of items,
and other such information pertaining to the financial health of the consumer. Qualitative data
may also be collected in the questionnaire and could include questions that are categorical, yesno, ordinal, and open-ended. It is expected that this questionnaire would be conducted online.
The SHED questionnaire is comprised of a significant section of core content, which
remains largely the same each year. The SHED questionnaire also normally includes a number of
special questions to address the Board’s need for information on emerging risks and trends that
affect consumers. The core content of the SHED questionnaire is comprised of the following:
Living Arrangements: respondents report information on the types of people living in the
household and why these individuals are living together.
General Well-Being: respondents report information on the major life events that have affected
them in the last year and how they are managing financially.
Employment: respondents report information on their:
 recent or current labor market status and desired status,
 recent employment benefits and satisfaction,
 interactions with the labor market, and
 perception of their human capital and skills.
Gig Economy: respondents report information on infrequent, informal activities (also known as
gig activities) that they performed in to earn money, including the amount of time spent on these
activities, the main reasons for performing them, and the amount of income earned.
Housing: respondents report on their housing arrangement and satisfaction with their housing
situation.
Rent: respondents report information on:

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whether they have even been evicted,
the reason for their current rental status,
their rental experience, and
their monthly rent payment.

Homeownership and Mortgage: respondents report information on the amount of their monthly
mortgage payments.
Banking: respondents report on whether they have an account with a bank and whether they have
recently used alternative financial services.
Credit Application: respondents report on their confidence in being approved for credit and their
recent experiences applying for credit.
Credit Condition: respondents report on:
 the ways that they manage their finances,
 the perception of their credit score, and
 their experiences with having and using credit.
Education: respondents report information on:
 their recent, current, and expected future education,
 the reasons for not attending or completing an educational program, and
 their perceptions of the value (cost vs benefit) of their most recent educational program.
Student Loans: respondents report information on their use of and experiences with student
loans.
Retirement Planning: respondents report information on:
 the types of retirement savings or pension plans they have and their use of these plans,
 their comfort with making investment decisions related to these plans,
 their reasoning for or planned age in which to retire, and
 their source of funds for retirement.
Income and Consumption: respondents report information on their savings and expenses, as well
as sources and variability of income.
Financial Support From Outside the Home: respondents report information on whether they
receive assistance from and/or provide assistance to anyone outside of the household for bill
payment.
Emergency Fund: respondents report information on their emergency savings and their ability to
pay emergency unexpected expenses.
Health and Insurance: respondents report whether:
 they recently chose to forgo medical treatment due to the expense,

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paid for an unexpected medical expense out of pocket, and
are currently covered by health insurance.

Financial Hardship: respondents report information on economic hardships that they recently
experienced and the financial strain the hardships caused.
Childhood Background: respondents report information on where they grew up and the highest
level of education that their parents received.
Financial Literacy: respondents answer questions used to gauge their understanding of financial
markets.
Other Ad-hoc Topics Related to Financial Well-Being: examples of previous ad-hoc topics
include issues such as experiences with auto loans, usage of mobile banking tools, experiences
with discrimination, desired neighborhood characteristics, as well as follow-up questions related
to the core content areas above.
In addition, as part of the FR 3077 information collection, the Board may conduct
cognitive interviews that involve asking a small number of respondents (up to 30 people) openended follow-up questions in order to understand how respondents interpreted the questions
being asked on the SHED questionnaire. These cognitive interviews would collect qualitative
information and may be conducted up to three times per year.4
Panel Selection Methodology
The Board anticipates conducting the SHED questionnaire annually with as many as
21,500 respondents per survey, including those who are sent the questionnaire but opt not to
complete it. The SHED data collection (both the questionnaire that is collected annually and any
cognitive interviews that may be conducted up to three times a year) are and will be performed
by a third-party a vendor selected through a competitive bidding process who maintains an
online probability-based Internet panel. An online probability-based Internet panel is defined
here as a panel of voluntary respondents that have been recruited through an address-based
sampling methodology (ABS) using the Delivery Sequence File of the United States Postal
Service technique or other similar technique that would allow for equal probability of selection
into the panel for all potential respondents. There are several reasons that a probability-based
Internet panel was selected as the method for this survey. First, these types of Internet surveys
that employ address based sampling (ABS) (or a similar sampling technique) for recruitment
have been found to be representative of the general population. Second, the ABS Internet panel
allows the same respondents to be re-interviewed in subsequent surveys with relative ease, as the
respondents remain active in the panel for several years. Third, Internet panel surveys have
4

The cognitive testing component of this information collection could include in-depth interviews or focus groups
where respondents would initially be presented a subset of questions from the SHED questionnaire and then asked
follow-up prompts, such as “what are you thinking about now,” as they explain how they determined their response
to the SHED questionnaire question. Although the FR 3077 information collection includes this cognitive interview
component, cognitive interviews have not yet been conducted by the Board (nor by the third-party vendor hired by
the Board).

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numerous existing data points on respondents from previously administered surveys, including
detailed demographic and economic information, allowing for the inclusion of additional
information on respondents without increasing respondent burden. Finally, collecting data
through an ABS Internet panel survey is cost-effective and can be done relatively quickly. The
resulting samples would behave as Equal Probability of Selection Method samples.
Respondent Panel
The Board expects that the respondents would include a nationally representative sample
of non-institutionalized individuals5 who are 18 years of age and older. Due to the nature of the
third-party vendor’s respondent pool, this sample naturally includes repeat respondents, which
allows for evaluating changes in respondents’ economic conditions, as well as time series
analysis.
In 2019, the Board changed how respondents were selected to participate in the SHED
questionnaire to more closely reflect a nationally representative sample. Thus, effective with the
2019 questionnaire, the respondent panel no longer contained a low- and moderate-income
oversample. Instead, the same number of respondents were interviewed but those respondents
were drawn as a random sample of adults, rather than by attempting to sample a disproportionate
share of low- and moderate-income adults. This change was made to obtain a respondent sample
that more closely reflects the overall adult population and to reflect that these deviations from a
nationally representative sample were no longer necessary for analyses of these populations
given the current size of the SHED respondent pool.
Effective with the 2018 SHED questionnaire, the respondent panel also no longer
included an explicit sample of repeat respondents. Because approximately one-fifth of the
vendor’s total online respondent pool for the questionnaire is already comprised of repeat
respondents, a substantial fraction of questionnaire respondents are repeat respondents without
the need to have an explicit repeat sample.
The Board plans to continue to sample a nationally representative pool of respondents
without an oversample of low- and moderate-income individuals and without an explicit repeat
sample group.
Proposed Revisions to the FR 3077
The ad hoc SHED questionnaire has undergone numerous revisions in order to both
minimize respondent burden and capture new and emerging topics. For example, beginning with
the 2017 SHED questionnaire, the questionnaire asked about exposure to opioids under the
“Health and Insurance” component; the 2018 questionnaire included a question on willingness to
take financial risks; and the 2019 questionnaire included several questions on exposure to the
criminal justice system and new aspects of employment in the gig economy. The Board also
annually reviews existing survey questions to identify those that no longer need to be included or
could be included only periodically. Examples of questions cycled off of the questionnaire
5

Non-institutionalized individuals refers to individuals who are not inmates of institutions, such as those who are
incarcerated or live in a retirement home, hospital, or other medical institution, as well as active duty military.

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include asking homeowners why they own their home, questions on auto-lending, and questions
on expectations for the financial well-being of the respondents’ children. The Board proposes to
maintain the 2019 questionnaire, which includes these changes, as the core content. The Board
also proposes to continue to add or remove a limited number of questions annually to reflect new
areas of interest on an ad hoc basis. However, the time necessary to respond to the newer
questions on the questionnaire, which were added in recent years, has taken respondents less
time than it took to respond to the older questions that were removed, thereby reducing the
overall respondent burden. Additionally, as the Board’s understanding of the time necessary to
complete the questionnaire has improved with additional years of data collection, it has been
determined that the completion time is lower than initially estimated. This improvement in the
time estimates led to a reduction in the expected respondent burden for the questionnaire.
Time Schedule for Information Collection
The data submission timeline for each questionnaire would be determined prior to the
distribution of the survey materials to the public, but the Board expects the questionnaire would
be conducted in the third or fourth quarter each year. Results from the SHED questionnaire are
typically made available in the second quarter of the following year in the Board’s annual Report
on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households.
Public Availability of Data
The Board expects to publish the SHED questionnaire used each year, the responses to
that questionnaire (without any individual respondent’s PII), and the final report regarding the
results of the questionnaire on the Board’s public website.6 This information is typically posted
in the second quarter of the year, approximately 6 to 9 months after the data was collected on the
SHED questionnaire.
Legal Status
Section 2A of the Federal Reserve Act requires that the Board maintain long run growth
of the monetary and credit aggregates commensurate with the economy’s long run potential to
increase production, so as to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable
prices, and moderate long-term interest rates (12 U.S.C. § 225a). The Board uses the information
obtained from the FR 3077 to help fulfill these obligations. The FR 3077 is a voluntary
information collection.
Personally identifiable information collected on the SHED questionnaire, which would
identify individual respondents, will be withheld under exemption 6 of the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA). Exemption 6 of the FOIA protects information from being disclosed
that would result in an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6)). In the
event cognitive interviews are conducted with select individuals to obtain qualitative feedback
regarding an individual respondent’s thoughts or reflections on the questions posed in the SHED
questionnaire, both the questions posed to the individual respondent and their responses would
be protected by exemption 6 of the FOIA (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6)).
6

https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/shed.htm.

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Consultation Outside of Agency
There has been no consultation outside the Federal Reserve System.
Public Comments
On May 11, 2020, the Board published an initial notice in the Federal Register (85 FR
27742) requesting public comment for 60 days on the extension, with revision, of the FR 3077.
The comment period for this notice expired on July 10, 2020. The Board received one comment
that expressed support for the data collection while urging the Board to include a general life
satisfaction question in addition to financial satisfaction metrics. The Board agrees with the
commenter’s suggestion that general life satisfaction questions are worthy of consideration for
the survey; however, because space on the survey is limited and the survey primarily focuses on
financial outcomes, the Board has opted not to incorporate the suggested question into the
proposed core question set. However, the survey instrument is structured to include additional
topics beyond the core question set, which are included in the survey periodically. Recognizing
the value of the commenter’s proposed question, the Board will include the suggested life
satisfaction questions as potential ad-hoc questions to ask this year or in future years of the
survey, pending space on the overall survey instrument. The Board adopted the extension, with
revision of the FR 3077 as originally proposed. On September 17, 2020, the Board published a
final notice in the Federal Register (85 FR 58057).
Estimate of Respondent Burden
As shown in the table below, the estimated total annual burden for the FR 3077 is 10,285
hours, and would decrease to 7,705 hours with the revisions. This decline in the estimated total
burden reflects a shorter questionnaire relative to the previous collection (i.e., some questions
were cycled off of past questionnaires and other questions have been simplified to reduce the
time required to complete), and improvements in the methodology for estimating respondent
burden. The number of respondents represents the number of potential respondents for the
cognitive interviews (Qualitative Surveys) per survey conducted, and, for the questionnaire
(Quantitative Surveys), also captures contacted non-respondents, inclusive of any pretesting that
would be required. For purposes of this estimate, it is assumed that the Quantitative Survey
would be conducted once per year, and the Qualitative Survey could be conducted up to three
times per year. The Board estimates that on average, each Quantitative Survey would require
0.35 hours to complete. The Board expects that on average, each Qualitative Survey would
require two hours to complete. These reporting requirements represent less than 1 percent of the
Board’s total paperwork burden.

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Estimated
number of
respondents

FR 3077
Current
Quantitative survey
Qualitative survey
Current Total
Proposed
Quantitative survey7
Qualitative survey
Proposed Total

Estimated
Estimated
Annual
average hours annual burden
frequency
per response
hours

21,500
30

1
3

0.47
2

10,105
180
10,285

21,500
30

1
3

0.35
2

7,525
180
7,705

Change

(2,580)

The current estimated total annual cost to the public for the FR 3077 is $277,695 and
would decrease to $208,035 with the adopted revisions.8
Sensitive Questions
These collections of information contain no questions of a sensitive nature, as defined by
OMB guidelines.
Estimate of Cost to the Federal Reserve System
The estimated cost to the Federal Reserve System for collecting and processing this
information collection is not expected to exceed $500,000. The exact cost would depend on the
size of the sample, the number of questions asked, the type and complexity of the questions
asked, and the frequency of the surveys. There would be no other costs associated with the
SHED outside the Board.

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Inclusive of the number of respondents, the number of non-responders who received a request for the survey, and
those who pretested the instrument.
8
The average consumer cost of $27 is estimated using data from the BLS Economic News Release (USDL-20-0300)
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cewqtr_02202020.htm.

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