CPI-Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (Current Series)
Welcome to the step-by-step guide on how to use the CPI-Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (Current Series) one-screen query system
The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) is a monthly measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban wage earners and clerical workers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. The CPI-W is based on the spending patterns of urban wage earners and clerical workers. Index data are available for the U.S. City Average (or national average), for various geographic areas (regions and metropolitan areas), for national population size classes of urban areas, and for cross-classifications of regions and size classes. Individual indexes are available for more than 200 items (e.g., apples, men's shirts, airline fares), and over 120 different combinations of items (e.g., fruits and vegetables, food at home, food and beverages, and All items).
This tool lets users query the BLS databases for specific data series. For each survey and program, make a selection for each characteristic in the order listed. As you make your selection, the remaining characteristics will filter to show only choices where data are available. After choosing the series, click on “Add to selection.” If you need more data series, repeat the steps of choosing the data series you need. After you've finished finding the data series you need, click on the “Get Data” button to retrieve the data, and an HTML table with data for the most recent 10 years will display. If you desire a different time period or format, you may modify the options on the data display page, or click on the “More Formatting Options” button for additional options on refining the data retrieval results. Note: Users may not retrieve more than 200 data series in one query.
Users have the option of viewing View items within an area, or View areas within an item. Click on the radio button next to the desired view.
Type all or part of a search string in the search text box. The contents of the box will filter to show only those options that contain the search string.
Click on the area of interest to select it. The items available for the selected area will automatically appear in the next window.
Type all or part of a search string in the search text box. The contents of the box will filter to show only those options that contain the search string.
Click on the item of interest to select it. To select multiple options, hold the Ctrl/Command button, and click the desired options. If "View areas within an item" is used, once an item is selected, the areas that have data for the selected item will automatically appear in the next window.
Seasonal adjustment is a statistical technique that attempts to measure and remove the influences of predictable seasonal patterns from time series data. Seasonally adjusted data contain this type of adjustment to enable comparisons of data across any point in time. Not seasonally data have no such adjustment.
You must make a selection for each of the characteristics in the order listed. Once you have selected all of the characteristics, the “Add to selection” button becomes active. Click the “Add to selection” button to list the selected data series in the “Your selection” box. You can return to the characteristics boxes and make new selections to request additional data series. Click the "Get Data" button to retrieve all the selected data series.
You must make a selection for each of the characteristics in the order listed. Once you have selected all of the characteristics, the “Get Data” button becomes active. Click to retrieve the data.
Last Modified Date: February 20, 2018
United States Department of Labor
