Christmas and the Economy

1
Christmas and the Economy

• Nicole MacConnell
• Ciara OGrady
• Jessy ONeill

2
The Influence of Christmas on the Economy

• Three Aspects
• Transportation
• Retail Industry
• Households

3
Transportation

• The Holiday Season has a major impact on
  transportation in the following ways
• Large number of consumers going to malls and
  stores
• Larger amount employees traveling to work
• Increase in amount of traffic on roadways
• People visiting family members
• Vacationing during time off

4
AAA reports that a little under 38 million
Americans travel 50 miles or more from home
during the holidays.
5
Transportation

• AAA reports that a little under 38 million
  Americans travel 50 miles or more from home
  during the holidays

• Bus and Train companies add extra service to bus
  and rail lines due to the increase in demand.
  They offer more direct mall service, extra
  routes, and additional early and late bus times
  to accommodate their customers.
• Due to the increase in driving during the holiday
  season more police officers are placed on duty on
  roadways resulting in an increase in tickets and
  therefore an increase in revenue.
• The congestion on roadways also causing traffic
  results in the burning of more gas which yields
  higher gas sales.
• -People are spending so much money on gas to heat
  their homes and fuel their cars and they are
  buying less of other goods or spending less money
  on goods.

6
Retail Industry

• Consumer spending represents 2/3 of the economy.
• Holiday sales give an indication of citizens
  economic health
• In a recent study by Deloitte shows that the
  average US household will spend just under 1,750
  over the holiday season.

7
Black Friday Over the Years

• 2004 Over the weekend of black Friday sales
  increased 10.8 and sales totaled to 13 Million
  dollars
• In the holiday months of November / December
  sales grossed over 220 billion dollars
• 2005 there was a 24 increase in sales over the
  weekend of black Friday with sales grossing 22.8
  billion
• During November / December sales increased by
  6.7 grossing 439.5 Billion
• 2006 Over the weekend of black Friday there was
  an increase with sales totaling 8.9 billion
  dollars on Friday alone
• Estimates for gross sales for this holiday
  season will only show an increase of 5 but,
  sales could reach 457 billion dollars.

8
Households

• Pros
• Efficiency
• The demand for newer and better decorations.
• New Jobs
• Many more jobs are created during the Christmas
  season and can be a good source of extra money
  for many families.

• Cons
• Utility Bills
• -- Households are spending more and more each
  year.

9
How does this effect us?

• America has this idea constant idea of the real
  Santa during the Christmas months.
• In the last 5 years Americans trade deficit alone
  increased 200 to 700 billion dollars
• This means, that the US must now borrow trillions
  of dollars from other nations to pay for imported
  goods.
• Due to Americans intense spending habits the
  average American family will incur nearly 20,000
  in credit card debt.

10
Works Cited

• http//www.reason.com/news/show/32837.html
• http//www.ucg.org/commentary/christmas.htm
• http//www.nortonfinance.co.uk/news/Utility_bill_h
  ikes_could_see_people_struggle
• www.CNNMoney.com
• http//retailtrafficmag.com/news/black-friday-2004
  /index.html
• http//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic
  le/2005/11/28/AR2005112801226.html
• http//money.cnn.com/2005/11/25/news/economy/holid
  ay_blackfriday/index/html
• http//www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f/c/a/2
  006/11/21/TRAVEL.TMP
• www.njtransit.com/
• http//www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/NEWS/9811/24/thanksgivin
  g.forecast
• http//www.dps.state.al.us/