EXPENDITURES

The 2016 Survey was of Income and Expenditures.  In this section, we discuss the general and annual expenditures.  In the next section, we will discuss the diary items.

The general and annual expenditures are divided into groups of items.  For example, as seen in the graphic, for construction expenses, the line items include “welling under construction”, “building an addition”, and so forth.  For dwelling under construction, using the weighted data, we find that 891 ([Insert #] percent) of the households interviewed had a dwelling under construction.  Most dwellings were on Saipan – no one on Tinian or Rota reported a dwelling under construction.  Rota or Tinian might have had a housing unit with a dwelling under construction but no one in the selected sample reported one.

The total value of the 891 dwelling under construction on Saipan was $8.4 million.  The values for total CNMI and Saipan are the same because no dwelling were under construction on Rota or Tinian.  The average amount spent on dwellings under construction is obtained by dividing the total amount spent by the number of units.  In this case that amount was $9,385.   

If we look at roof repairs, we see a different distribution.  More than 2,600 of CNMI’s units had roof repairs in the year before the survey.  Of these, 2,400 were on Saipan, 114 were on Tinian and 108 were on Rota.  The amount paid was distributed similarly, with $5.7 million spent of roof repairs on Saipan, so about $2,250 per unit.

The table has various categories of construction based on the U.S. model.  Some items appeared often, others only rarely, but when an item was said to have occurred during the reference period, the amount was also requested.  The middle columns show the sum of all the amounts, and the last columns provide an average based on the total amount spent and the number of units.

Table 5 shows appliances bought during the year before the survey.  The largest number of appliances bought was air conditions – about 1,500, with about 1,300 on Saipan, 73 on Tinian and 90 on Rota.  The average cost varied, probably because of power and quality.  The average purchase was $600 on Saipan, $200 on Tinian, and $400 on Rota.  About 1,264 households purchased a refrigerator during the year, and about 1,027 purchased a gas stove or oven.  About 600 households purchased a microwave oven during the year and slightly fewer purchased a washing machine.  Note that these are purchases and not whether the housing unit literally had the item; if the housing unit purchased the item before the survey period it would be included in the housing part of the census above, but not here.

For office equipment, about 1,400 units purchased notebook computers, and 700 bought tablets.  As expected, most of the purchases were in Saipan.  The average cost of a notebook computer was $675 in the survey, with Tinian at about $650 and Rota at $400.  Tablet computers showed similar results, with the total being about $330, with Saipan and Tinian at about that level, but Rota at around $500 – so tablets cost more on Rota than notebooks.

About 2,400 housing units purchased a flat-screen TV during the year, at a total cost of more than $1 million, and an average cost of about $500.  The average cost was less on Tinian and Rota.  The flat screen TV could be on any size and description which could account for the discrepancies.  And, about 2,100 households purchased a smart phone during the year, with about 1,600 on Saipan, 100 on Tinian, and almost 400 on Rota.  The average cost was about $420 for all CNMI, but about $450 on Saipan and Tinian, and $300 on Rota.  It should be noted that if someone from Tinian came to Saipan to make a purchase, that purchase would appear in the household on Tinian, and not Saipan where the purchase occurred.

Many households bought at least one piece of furniture during the year.  Almost 2,000 households bought rugs or carpets, at an average price of $158.  The next largest categories of purchases were bedroom furniture (1,745 at an average cost of $424) and “other” living room furniture (1,213 at an average cost of $374).   Fewer bought dining room or kitchen furniture.

About 400 housing units purchased hunting or fishing equipment during the period.  The average cost of these items was high, at about $1,300, and about $1,800 for Saipan but $500 for Tinian and less than $300 for Rota.  The next category was health and exercise equipment (252 at an average of $343), followed by “other” sporting goods, water sports equipment, and bicycles.

More than 2,000 households bought a rice cooker during the purchasing period – about 1,900 on Saipan, and 100 each on Tinian and Rota.  The average cost was about $58.  More than 1,000 households bought a toaster. About 800 bought a battery powered safety razor and another 800 bought kitchen utensils.   Almost 600 housing units bought weedwhackers at an average cost of about $350.

The households made about 15,000 purchases of cleaning products, with more than 13,000 on Saipan, 800 on Tinian and 600 on Rota.  The average cost of the clean products was about $100.  About 7,000 purchases were made for “other” paper products.  These cost an average of about $60.  And about 2,000 purchases were made of “other” housekeeping supplies. 

More men’s than women’s clothes were purchased during the period considered. More than 5,000 men’s casual shirts and 5,000 men’s pants were purchased.  Both the shirts and the pants averaged about $100.  The households made more than 2,000 purchases each of women’s blouses, dresses, and undergarments.  More than 2,000 purchases each were made of boys’ and girls’ apparel.  Almost 8,000 pairs of men’s’ and boys’ footwear were purchased as were almost 7,000 for women and girls.  Around 1,000 purchases of infants clothing were made during the period.

The households did not buy many accessories.  The largest number was for watches, about 800, at an average cost of about $150.  The households also made about 600 purchases of jewelry, at a cost of about $200, but none reported on Tinian and an average cost of $113 on Rota.

More than 7,300 purchases of non-prescription drugs and supplies were made during the reference period, at an average cost of about $40 on all island.  About 4,000 prescription drugs were reported at an average cost of about $130 on Saipan, $230 on Tinian, and $70 on Rota.  And the households made about 1,000 purchases of band aids.

About 16,000 reported automobile repair costs, at an average of $150 per event.  Tinian and Saipan were in this range, but the average cost on Rota was about $100 more.  About 16,000 automobile registrations were reported.  And about 2,600 units reported purchasing an automobile, at an average cost of about $17,000 on Saipan, $11,000 on Tinian, and $10,000 on Rota.  See the summary at the end for amounts spent on air travel.

More than 10,000 households reported paying for health insurance, at an average cost of $70.  This influenced by Saipan’s reporting of $60 per household.  The rate was $178 for Tinian and $146 for Rota.  More than 2,000 doctors’ charges were reported, at an average cost of $375, slightly less for Tinian, and about $200 less for Rota.

Of the education expenses, payments of college tuitions were the largest, with the 515 instances costing $1.5 million during the year preceding the enumeration.  Primary school tuition was next, with 403 cases and more than $673,000 in total.  The average college tuition payment was about $3,000, while the average for primary school was about $1,700.

For personal care, about 10,000 haircuts were reported, at an average cost of $125.  More than 1,500 manicures and pedicures cost an average of about $137, and the 1,370 hair dying and colorings cost about $150 on average.

Family is the highest priority in the CNMI, so large amounts of money are spent on various family activities.  The households participated in about 1,400 weddings during the year, and spent about $1,100 per wedding, with Saipan’s expenditures higher and those on Tinian and Rota much lower.  But funerals were even more prominent.  The 3,500 funerals had an average cost of about $600 (but less than half that on Tinian and Rota).  More than 3,000 households participated in family events and another 3,000 in church events.  But many households also contributed to Christenings, “feasts”, school functions, and other traditional family gatherings.

Finally, the households made almost 15,000 purchases of water in 3 gallon containers.  As before, almost 14,000 of these were on Saipan, with 800 on Tinian and 400 on Rota.  The average cost worked out to $300 on Saipan and about $200 on Tinian and Rota.  The households purchased about 6,400 licenses of different kinds.  They made about 6,000 loan payments and about 5,000 credit card payments.  Small numbers went for life insurance and legal fees.

In summary, about 250,000 regular and annual expenditures were reported on an inflated basis by the households in the 2016 CNMI Household Income and Expenditures Survey.  The total cost was about $150 million.  Saipan’s households spent more than $140 million, while Tinian and Rota each spent about $7 million.  The largest numbers of purchases were for clothing, followed by small equipment and auto repairs and registration.