Doug’s Dime: How much are you spending on your hobbies?

According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Americans are now devoting 4.96 percent of their goods spending to hobbies, an upward shift in time and money spent on hobbies that is seen across ages and generations. The fraction of money spent on hobbies rose steadily from a little over two percent in 1960 to around 4.5 percent in 2002, before gradually declining over the following decade and a half to a recent low of 3.7 percent spending in December 2018; the pandemic caused an overnight jump in hobbies’ share of American spending. While the emergence from the pandemic caused a slight drop, as of June we’ve since grown past the pandemic all-time high.