Friday / Weekend Open Line


This weekend, many households across the country will set up their Christmas trees. About one-fifth of homes still put up and decorate a real tree each year. Almost half of U.S. households now use artificial trees to decorate for the holidays. Many of those trees do annual duty for many years, returning to attics and garages to wait for the next holiday season. The remaining homes do not use a tree for the holidays. China was the leading foreign source of artificial Christmas trees imported into the U.S. for the first nine months of last year, about $80 million worth. You can find current data on the country’s economy by downloading the new “America’s Economy” mobile application at <www.census.gov/mobile>.