[Excerpt] Consumer units spent $38,045 on average in 2000, an increase of 2.8 percent over the previous year. Spending had risen 4.1 percent in 1999 and 2.1 percent in 1998. The increase in spending in 2000 was less than the 3.4- percent annual average rise in general price levels over the year, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This report shows the latest results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey.