Consumer Price Index  Ray Ballesteros  Miguel Vargas

Introduction  CPI Reporting  What’s in the report?  What is the CPI?  Data Collection  CPI Components  Why is it Important?  Charts  Latest Release  Conclusion

CPI Reporting  Published By:BLS  Frequency:Monthly  Period Covered:Prior Month  Significance:High 

What’s in the report  Seasonally adjusted figures  Unadjusted figures  CPI-U  CPI-W  CPI Levels to 3 decimal places

What’s the CPI?  The Consumer Price Index is a measure of the average change in prices over time of goods and services purchased by households.  CPI-U– Accounts for all expenditures by urban consumers (87% of population)  CPI-W– Accounts for all expenditures by consumers units with clerical, sales, and craft, service workers, operative or laborers(32%).

Data Collection  First 3weeks; Visits and Interviews  87 Urban Areas  +23,000 Retail Outlets  80,000 Prices Collected

CPI Components  8 Major Categories Housing 42.1% Transportation 16.9% Food & Bev. 15.4% Medical Care 6.1% Apparel 4%Recreation 5.8% Education & Communication 5.9% Other Goods and Services 3.8%

Importance of CPI  Main Measure of Inflation (Purchasing Power) Affects Investments, Pension Plans, Rental Contracts, Wages CPI-U & CPI-W are considered final when released– no revisions

Latest Release Unadjusted  CPI-U Increased.9% in March before seasonal adjustments. The March level of was 2.8% higher than in March  CPI-W increased 1% in March Prior to seasonal adjustment. The March level of was 2.7% higher than in March 2006.

Latest Release Adjusted CPI-W increased.8% to in March after seasonal adjustment.  Increase.5% in April to after seasonal adjustments  CPI-U Increased.6% to in March after seasonal adjustments.  Increased.4% in April to after seasonal adjustment

Conclusion  Inflationary Pressures Remain