Consumer Price Index, Northeast Region – May 2013

Regional prices unchanged over the month; up 1.2 percent over the year

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Northeast region was unchanged in May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Martin Kohli, the Bureau’s chief regional economist, noted that since April a 0.2-percent increase in the all items less food and energy index was offset by decreases in the energy (-0.5 percent) and food (-0.3 percent) indexes. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U increased 1.2 percent, due mostly to a 1.6-percent advance in the all items less food and energy index. (See chart 1 and table A.) The food index also rose since May 2012, up 1.0 percent, while the energy index decreased 2.1 percent. (See table 1.)

Food

Following a 0.4-percent rise in April, the food index edged down 0.3 percent in May. One of its two components, food at home, decreased 0.6 percent while the other, food away from home, was unchanged over the month.

Over the year, the food index advanced 1.0 percent. Prices for both the food away from home and food at home components increased since last May, up 1.8 and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Energy

The energy index, which includes prices for household and transportation fuels, declined 0.5 percent since April. The decrease was due largely to the third consecutive over-the-month decline in gasoline prices, down 0.9 percent since April and 5.1 percent since February. Utility (piped) gas service prices fell 1.5 percent in May, while electricity prices rose 2.2 percent.

Energy prices declined 2.1 percent over the year, reflecting a 6.5-percent drop in gasoline prices. Utility (piped) gas service prices jumped 12.7 percent over the year, their largest 12-month advance since October 2008. Electricity prices also increased since May 2012, up 2.5 percent, their largest 12-month advance in over 3 years.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy edged up 0.2 percent in May. The recent advance was dominated by higher prices for shelter (0.4 percent). Household furnishings and operations prices also rose since April, up 0.2 percent. Moderating the price increases within the all items less food and energy index was a seasonal decrease in prices for apparel (-1.1 percent) and a decline in those for new and used motor vehicles (-0.2 percent), among others.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.6 percent over the year. The 12-month advance was led by higher prices for shelter (2.0 percent), particularly those for owners’ equivalent rent of residences (1.7 percent). Price increases among other components, including medical care (2.1 percent) and education and communication (1.0 percent), also contributed to the rise in the all items less food and energy index since May 2012.

The June 2013 Consumer Price Index for the Northeast region is scheduled to be released on July 16, 2013, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Table A. Northeast region CPI-U 1-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index (not seasonally adjusted)

Month	2008		2009		2010		2011		2012		2013
	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual
January	0.4	3.9	0.2	0.5	0.4	3.0	0.4	1.6	0.4	2.9	0.3	1.8
February	0.4	4.0	0.6	0.7	0.0	2.5	0.5	2.0	0.4	2.8	0.6	2.0
March	0.8	3.9	0.2	0.2	0.3	2.6	0.8	2.5	0.5	2.5	0.0	1.5
April	0.5	3.9	0.2	-0.1	0.2	2.5	0.5	2.8	0.3	2.3	-0.1	1.1
May	0.9	4.3	0.1	-0.8	0.2	2.6	0.5	3.2	-0.1	1.7	0.0	1.2
June	1.1	5.0	0.8	-1.2	-0.1	1.7	0.1	3.4	-0.2	1.5
July	0.8	5.7	0.1	-1.9	0.0	1.6	0.2	3.6	-0.1	1.1
August	-0.3	5.5	0.3	-1.2	0.1	1.4	0.3	3.8	0.5	1.3
September	-0.4	5.2	0.1	-0.7	-0.1	1.2	0.1	4.0	0.5	1.7
October	-0.9	4.0	0.0	0.2	0.3	1.5	-0.1	3.6	0.1	1.9
November	-1.6	1.7	0.2	2.0	0.2	1.5	-0.1	3.2	-0.2	1.8
December	-0.9	0.7	-0.1	2.8	0.0	1.6	-0.3	2.9	-0.3	1.8

Technical note

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes CPIs for two population groups: (1) a CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) which covers approximately 88 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 29 percent of the total population. The CPI-U includes, in addition to wage earners and clerical workers, groups such as professional, managerial, and technical workers, the self-employed, short-term workers, the unemployed, and retirees and others not in the labor force.

The CPI is based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and the other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. Each month, prices are collected in 87 urban areas across the country from about 4,000 housing units and approximately 26,000 retail establishments—department stores, supermarkets, hospitals, filling stations, and other types of stores and service establishments. All taxes directly associated with the purchase and use of items are included in the index.

The index measures price changes from a designated reference date (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/homch17_a.htm.

In calculating the index, price changes for the various items in each location are averaged together with weights that represent their importance in the spending of the appropriate population group. Local data are then combined to obtain a U.S. city average. Because the sample size of a local area is smaller, the local area index is subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error than the national index. In addition, local indexes are not adjusted for seasonal influences. As a result, local area indexes show greater volatility than the national index, although their long-term trends are quite similar. NOTE: Area indexes do not measure differences in the level of prices between cities; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The Northeast region is comprised of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 800-877-8339.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods, Northeast (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted) (not seasonally adjusted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	March 2013	April 2013	May 2013	May 2012	March 2013	April 2013
Expenditure category
All items	248.719	248.464	248.584	1.2	-0.1	0.0
All items (1967=100)	391.657	391.255	391.444
Food and beverages	242.247	243.324	242.669	1.1	0.2	-0.3
Food	242.001	243.057	242.305	1.0	0.1	-0.3
Food at home	241.071	242.120	240.781	0.5	-0.1	-0.6
Food away from home	246.415	247.494	247.596	1.8	0.5	0.0
Alcoholic beverages	244.217	245.613	246.375	2.5	0.9	0.3
Housing	254.689	254.570	255.487	1.9	0.3	0.4
Shelter	306.748	306.765	308.100	2.0	0.4	0.4
Rent of primary residence (1)	306.762	306.780	307.775	2.7	0.3	0.3
Owners' equivalent rent of residences (1) (2)	317.898	318.106	318.574	1.7	0.2	0.1
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence (1) (2)	317.802	318.006	318.472	1.7	0.2	0.1
Fuels and utilities	220.169	220.047	220.028	2.7	-0.1	0.0
Household energy	199.619	199.419	199.327	2.7	-0.1	0.0
Energy servides (1)	185.575	187.803	189.614	5.5	2.2	1.0
Electricity (1)	181.337	184.595	188.564	2.5	4.0	2.2
Utility (piped) gas service (1)	183.220	183.174	180.383	12.7	-1.5	-1.5
Household furnishings and operations	128.269	127.620	127.905	-0.1	-0.3	0.2
Apparel	130.408	131.107	129.700	-1.0	-0.5	-1.1
Transportation	220.030	217.554	217.465	-0.4	-1.2	0.0
Private transportation	212.229	209.465	209.028	-1.1	-1.5	-0.2
New and used motor vehicles (3)	99.432	99.279	99.039	-0.5	-0.4	-0.2
New vehicles	144.646	144.574	144.034	0.8	-0.4	-0.4
New cars and trucks (3) (4)	100.247	100.192	99.816	0.8	-0.4	-0.4
New cars (3)	140.043	139.769	139.063	0.3	-0.7	-0.5
Used cars and trucks	157.819	158.822	159.285	-2.2	0.9	0.3
Motor fuel	311.504	298.883	296.239	-6.4	-4.9	-0.9
Gasoline (all types)	310.263	297.617	295.028	-6.5	-4.9	-0.9
Gasoline, unleaded regular (4)	311.368	298.118	295.615	-6.9	-5.1	-0.8
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (4) (5)	316.790	304.833	302.021	-5.6	-4.7	-0.9
Gasoline, unleaded premium (5)	300.842	290.807	287.901	-4.7	-4.3	-1.0
Medical care	445.676	447.411	446.653	2.1	0.2	-0.2
Medical care commodities	365.485	365.334	364.503	-0.7	-0.3	-0.2
Medical care services	467.004	469.470	468.761	3.1	0.4	-0.2
Professional services	347.704	350.125	349.521	2.1	0.5	-0.2
Recreation (3)	120.445	120.381	120.462	0.7	0.0	0.1
Education and communication (3)	136.477	136.264	136.122	1.0	-0.3	-0.1
Other goods and services	430.720	431.595	431.176	1.2	0.1	-0.1
Commodity and service group
All items	248.719	248.464	248.584	1.2	-0.1	0.0
Commodities	195.772	194.902	194.117	-0.8	-0.8	-0.4
Commodities less food and beverages	167.775	166.087	165.276	-2.0	-1.5	-0.5
Nondurables less food and beverages	218.419	215.214	213.609	-2.6	-2.2	-0.7
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel	286.569	280.625	278.818	-3.1	-2.7	-0.6
Durables	111.171	111.030	111.025	-1.0	-0.1	0.0
Services	300.692	301.016	301.994	2.4	0.4	0.3
Rent of shelter (2)	320.778	320.831	322.221	2.0	0.4	0.4
Transportation services	269.336	269.692	271.488	4.4	0.8	0.7
Other services	348.263	347.943	347.645	1.5	-0.2	-0.1
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	240.023	239.693	239.846	1.1	-0.1	0.1
All items less food	250.253	249.780	250.045	1.2	-0.1	0.1
All items less shelter	229.391	229.032	228.704	0.7	-0.3	-0.1
Commodities less food	170.782	169.170	168.398	-1.9	-1.4	-0.5
Nondurables	231.539	230.313	229.139	-0.8	-1.0	-0.5
Nondurables less food	219.902	216.939	215.458	-2.3	-2.0	-0.7
Nondurables less food and apparel	280.346	275.089	273.521	-2.6	-2.4	-0.6
Services less rent of shelter (2)	304.928	305.572	306.191	2.9	0.4	0.2
Services less medical care services	289.161	289.367	290.427	2.4	0.4	0.4
Energy	246.358	241.032	239.888	-2.1	-2.6	-0.5
All items less energy	251.356	251.635	251.891	1.5	0.2	0.1
All items less food and energy	254.639	254.774	255.221	1.6	0.2	0.2
Commodities less food and energy commodities	152.179	152.305	152.035	-0.4	-0.1	-0.2
Energy commodities	323.681	310.398	306.202	-6.4	-5.4	-1.4
Services less energy services	312.043	312.178	313.073	2.2	0.3	0.3
Footnotes (1) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. (2) Index is on a December 1982=100 base. (3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.
NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. The Northeast region is comprised of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.