Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until                                       
 8:30 a.m. (EST) Thursday, February 20, 2014   USDL-14-0253

 Technical information: (202) 691-7000  Reed.Steve@bls.gov    www.bls.gov/cpi
 Media Contact:         (202) 691-5902  PressOffice@bls.gov 

                  CONSUMER PRICE INDEX - JANUARY 2014

 The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.1 percent
 in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
 reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 1.6
 percent before seasonal adjustment.

 Increases in the indexes for household energy accounted for most of the
 all items increase. The electricity index posted its largest increase since
 March 2010, and the indexes for natural gas and fuel oil also rose sharply.
 These increases more than offset a decline in the gasoline index, resulting
 in a 0.6 percent increase in the energy index.

 The index for all items less food and energy also rose 0.1 percent in January.
 A 0.3 percent increase in the shelter index was the major contributor to the 
 rise, but the indexes for medical care, recreation, personal care, and tobacco
 also increased. In contrast, the indexes for airline fares, used cars and trucks,
 new vehicles, and apparel all declined in January. The food index rose slightly
 in January. The index for food at home rose 0.1 percent, with major grocery
 store food groups mixed.

 The all items index increased 1.6 percent over the last 12 months; this compares
 to a 1.5 percent increase for the 12 months ending December. The index for all
 items less food and energy has also risen 1.6 percent over the last 12 months.
 The energy index has risen 2.1 percent over the span, and the food index has
 increased 1.1 percent. 

 Table A. Percent changes in CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): U.S. city
 average
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                  Seasonally adjusted changes from             
                                          preceding month                      
                                                                          Un-  
                                                                       adjusted
                                                                        12-mos.
                              July  Aug.  Sep.  Oct.  Nov.  Dec.  Jan.   ended 
                              2013  2013  2013  2013  2013  2013  2014   Jan.  
                                                                         2014  
                                                                               
                                                                               
 All items..................    .2    .1    .1    .0    .1    .2    .1      1.6
  Food......................    .1    .1    .0    .1    .1    .0    .1      1.1
   Food at home.............    .1    .1    .0    .0    .0    .0    .1       .5
   Food away from home (1)..    .2    .2    .1    .1    .3    .1    .1      2.0
  Energy....................    .2   -.4    .3   -.9   -.4   1.6    .6      2.1
   Energy commodities.......    .7   -.4   -.1  -1.5   -.8   2.6   -.5       .5
    Gasoline (all types)....    .8   -.5   -.2  -1.6   -.8   2.6  -1.0       .1
    Fuel oil (1)............   1.1   1.2    .9   -.6    .4   2.4   3.7      2.0
   Energy services..........   -.6   -.5    .8    .1    .0    .1   2.2      4.5
    Electricity.............   -.1   -.1    .5    .2    .5    .4   1.8      4.4
    Utility (piped) gas                                                        
       service..............  -2.1  -1.8   1.6   -.5  -1.5  -1.0   3.6      4.9
  All items less food and                                                      
     energy.................    .2    .1    .1    .1    .2    .1    .1      1.6
   Commodities less food and                                                   
      energy commodities....    .0    .0   -.1   -.1    .0    .0   -.1      -.3
    New vehicles............    .0    .0    .1   -.1   -.1    .0   -.3       .0
    Used cars and trucks....   -.4   -.1    .3    .4    .3    .0   -.5      1.5
    Apparel.................    .6    .2   -.4   -.4   -.1    .4   -.3      -.3
    Medical care commodities    .2    .3    .2    .3    .1   -.6    .5       .8
   Services less energy                                                        
      services..............    .2    .2    .2    .2    .3    .1    .2      2.3
    Shelter.................    .2    .2    .2    .1    .3    .2    .3      2.6
    Transportation services     .5   -.3    .2    .4    .3   -.4    .1      1.2
    Medical care services...    .2    .6    .3    .0    .0    .2    .2      2.5

   1 Not seasonally adjusted.



 Consumer Price Index Data for January 2014
 
 Food

 The food index rose 0.1 percent in January. The food at home index increased 0.1
 percent, with the major grocery store food group indexes mixed. Three of the six
 increased, including the indexes for cereals and bakery products and for dairy
 and related products, which both rose 0.5 percent. The index for meats, poultry,
 fish, and eggs also increased, rising 0.4 percent. In contrast, the fruits and 
 vegetables index declined in January, falling 0.3 percent, while the index for
 nonalcoholic beverages fell 0.2 percent. The index for other food at home was
 unchanged in January. The food index has risen 1.1 percent over the past year,
 with the food at home index up 0.5 percent. The index for meats, poultry, fish,
 and eggs has risen 3.3 percent over the last 12 months. The index for cereals 
 and bakery products has also risen over that span, but the other major grocery
 store food group indexes have declined. The index for food away from home rose
 0.1 percent in January and has increased 2.0 percent over the last 12 months.  

                   
 Energy

 The energy index rose 0.6 percent in January as a decline in the gasoline index
 was more than offset by increases in household energy components. The 
 electricity index rose 1.8 percent, its largest increase since March 2010. The
 index for natural gas also rose sharply, increasing 3.6 percent, and the fuel oil
 index increased 3.7 percent. The gasoline index, which rose in December, fell 1.0
 percent in January. (Before seasonal adjustment, gasoline prices rose 1.4 percent
 in January.) The energy index has increased 2.1 percent over the last year, with
 all major components posting increases, though the gasoline index has increased
 only 0.1 percent. 


 All items less food and energy

 The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.1 percent in January. The
 shelter index rose 0.3 percent, with the indexes for rent and owners' equivalent
 rent both rising 0.2 percent, and the index for lodging away from home advancing
 1.3 percent. The medical care index rose 0.3 percent in January. The index for
 medical care commodities advanced 0.5 percent as the prescription drug index rose
 0.6 percent. The index for medical care services increased 0.2 percent. The
 recreation index rose 0.2 percent, as did the index for personal care. The
 tobacco index increased 0.7 percent, its largest increase since July. In contrast
 to these increases, the index for airline fares fell sharply in January, declining
 2.2 percent. The index for used cars and trucks fell 0.5 percent. The new vehicles
 index declined as well, falling 0.3 percent. The apparel index, which rose in
 December, also declined 0.3 percent. The index for household furnishings and
 operations was unchanged in January.

 The index for all items less food and energy has risen 1.6 percent over the last
 12 months; this is the smallest 12-month change since June. The shelter index has
 risen 2.6 percent over the last 12 months, while the medical care index has risen
 2.1 percent. The indexes for airline fares and apparel have both declined over the
 last year. 




 Not seasonally adjusted CPI measures

 The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 1.6 percent
 over the last 12 months to an index level of 233.916 (1982-84=100). For the month,
 the index rose 0.4 percent prior to seasonal adjustment.  

 The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W)
 increased 1.6 percent over the last 12 months to an index level of 230.040 
 (1982-84=100). For the month, the index rose 0.4 percent prior to seasonal
 adjustment.  

 The Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U) increased 1.4
 percent over the last 12 months. For the month, the index rose 0.4 percent on a not
 seasonally adjusted basis. Please note that the indexes for the post-2012 period
 are subject to revision. 

	
 The Consumer Price Index for February 2014 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday,
 March 18, 2014, at 8:30 a.m. (EDT). 




 C-CPI-U Index Revisions

 As scheduled, effective with this release of data for January 2014, the Chained
 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U) has undergone its annual
 revision. Because the current expenditure data required for the calculation of 
 the C-CPI-U are available only with a time lag, the index is issued first in 
 preliminary form, using the latest available expenditure data at the time of
 publication, and is subject to two subsequent revisions. Therefore, C-CPI-U 
 indexes for the 12 months of 2012 are issued in final form - employing monthly
 expenditure weights from 2012. Values for the 12 months of 2013 are revised and
 issued as interim, using expenditure weights from the 2011-2012 period. 
 Calculation of the initial value of the January 2014 C-CPI-U index, and all
 subsequent months in 2014, will also be based upon 2011-2012 expenditure weights.

 Expenditure Weight Update

 Effective with this release of the January 2014 CPI, the Bureau of Labor 
 Statistics (BLS) has updated the consumption expenditure weights in the Consumer
 Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage 
 Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) to the 2011-2012 period. The updated 
 expenditure weights for these indexes replace the 2009-2010 weights that were
 introduced effective with the January 2012 CPI release. 

 Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U) Annual 
 Average Indexes Discontinued           

 The final revisions of the C-CPI-U indexes for 2012 are available as of February
 2014. Annual average indexes for C-CPI-U series will not be published for time 
 periods after 2012. (Monthly C-CPI-U indexes will continue to be published.)   In
 February 2014, the annual average indexes for the final estimates for 2012 C-CPI-U
 series will be published in the public CPI database. Table 1CA will not be published.

 Facilities for Sensory Impaired

 Information from this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals
 upon request. Voice phone:  202-691-5200, Federal Relay Services:  1-800-877-8339.  

 Brief Explanation of the CPI
      
 The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over
 time of goods and services purchased by households. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
 publishes CPIs for two population groups: (1) the CPI for Urban Wage Earners and
 Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which covers households of wage earners and clerical 
 workers that comprise approximately 29 percent of the total population and (2) the
 CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and the Chained CPI for All Urban Consumers
 (C-CPI-U), which covers approximately 88 percent of the total population and include
 in addition to wage earners and clerical worker households, 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 CPIs are based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation
 fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and other goods and 
 services that people buy for day-to-day living. Prices are collected each month 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.  Prices of
 fuels and a few other items are obtained every month in all 87 locations. Prices of
 most other commodities and services are collected every month in the three largest 
 geographic areas and every other month in other areas. Prices of most goods and
 services are obtained by personal visits or telephone calls of the Bureau's
 trained representatives.
      
 In calculating the index, price changes for the various items in each location are 
 averaged together with weights, which represent their importance in the spending of
 the appropriate population group. Local data are then combined to obtain a U.S. city
 average. For the CPI-U and CPI-W separate indexes are also published by size of city,
 by region of the country, for cross-classifications of regions and population-size
 classes, and for 27 local areas. Area indexes do not measure differences in the level
 of prices among cities; they only measure the average change in prices for each area
 since the base period.  For the C-CPI-U data are issued only at the national level.
 It is important to note that the CPI-U and CPI-W are considered final when released,
 but the C-CPI-U is issued in preliminary form and subject to two annual revisions.
      
 The index measures price change from a designed reference date. For the CPI-U and the
 CPI-W the reference base is 1982-84 equals 100. The reference base for the C-CPI-U is
 December 1999 equals 100.  An increase of 16.5 percent from the reference base, for
 example, is shown as 116.500. 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 visit the CPI home page on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/cpi/
 or contact our CPI Information and Analysis Section on (202) 691-7000.

 Note on Sampling Error in the Consumer Price Index

 The CPI is a statistical estimate that is subject to sampling error because it is 
 based upon a sample of retail prices and not the complete universe of all prices. 
 BLS calculates and publishes estimates of the 1-month, 2-month, 6-month and 12-month 
 percent change standard errors annually, for the CPI-U. These standard error estimates 
 can be used to construct confidence intervals for hypothesis testing. For example, the 
 estimated standard error of the 1 month percent change is 0.04 percent for the U.S. All 
 Items Consumer Price Index.  This means that if we repeatedly sample from the universe 
 of all retail prices using the same methodology, and estimate a percentage change for 
 each sample, then 95% of these estimates would be within 0.08 percent of the 1 month 
 percentage change based on all retail prices.  For example, for a 1-month change of 
 0.2 percent in the All Items CPI for All Urban Consumers, we are 95 percent confident 
 that the actual percent change based on all retail prices would fall between 0.12 and 
 0.28 percent. For the latest data, including information on how to use the estimates 
 of standard error, see "Variance Estimates for Price Changes in the Consumer Price 
 Index, January-December 2012". These data are available on the CPI home page 
 (http://www.bls.gov/cpi), or by using the following link: 
 http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpivar2012.pdf   

 Calculating Index Changes

 Movements of the indexes from one month to another are usually expressed as percent 
 changes rather than changes in index points, because index point changes are affected 
 by the level of the index in relation to its base period while percent changes are not.
 The example below illustrates the computation of index point and percent changes.
      
 Percent changes for 3-month and 6-month periods are expressed as annual rates and are 
 computed according to the standard formula for compound growth rates. These data 
 indicate what the percent change would be if the current rate were maintained for a 
 12-month period.

 Index Point Change

 CPI                                                                 202.416
 Less previous index                                                 201.800
 Equals index point change                                              .616



 Percent Change

 Index point difference                                                 .616
 Divided by the previous index                                       201.800
 Equals                                                                0.003
 Results multiplied by one hundred                                     0.003x100
 Equals percent change                                                 0.3



 A Note on Seasonally Adjusted and Unadjusted Data
   
 Because price data are used for different purposes by different groups, the Bureau of 
 Labor Statistics publishes seasonally adjusted as well as unadjusted changes each month.

 For analyzing general price trends in the economy, seasonally adjusted changes are usually
 preferred since they eliminate the effect of changes that normally occur at the same time
 and in about the same magnitude every year--such as price movements resulting from changing 
 climatic conditions, production cycles, model changeovers, holidays, and sales.

 The unadjusted data are of primary interest to consumers concerned about the prices they
 actually pay.  Unadjusted data also are used extensively for escalation purposes. Many 
 collective bargaining contract agreements and pension plans, for example, tie compensation
 changes to the Consumer Price Index before adjustment for seasonal variation.

 Seasonal factors used in computing the seasonally adjusted indexes are derived by the 
 X-13ARIMA-SEATS Seasonal Adjustment Method.  Seasonally adjusted indexes and seasonal 
 factors are computed annually.  Each year, the last five years of seasonally adjusted data
 are revised. Data from January 2009 through December 2013 were replaced in January 2014.
 Exceptions to the usual revision schedule were: the updated seasonal data at the end of 
 1977 replaced data from 1967 through 1977; and, in January 2002, dependently seasonally
 adjusted series were revised for January 1987-December 2001 as a result of a change in 
 the aggregation weights for dependently adjusted series. For further information, please
 see "Aggregation of Dependently Adjusted Seasonally Adjusted Series," in the October 2001
 issue of the CPI Detailed Report.

 Effective with the publication of data from January 2006 through December 2010 in January 
 2011, the Video and audio series and the Information technology, hardware and services 
 series were changed from independently adjusted to dependently adjusted. This resulted in
 an increase in the number of seasonal components used in deriving seasonal movement of the
 All items and 64 other lower level aggregations, from 73 for the publication of January 
 1998 through December 2005 data to 82 for the publication of seasonally adjusted data for
 January 2006 and later.  Each year the seasonal status of every series is reevaluated based 
 upon certain statistical criteria. If any of the 82 components change their seasonal 
 adjustment status from seasonally adjusted to not seasonally adjusted, not seasonally 
 adjusted data will be used in the aggregation of the dependent series for the last five 
 years, but the seasonally adjusted indexes before that period will not be changed. 
 Note: 35 of the 82 components are not seasonally adjusted for 2014.

 Seasonally adjusted data, including the all items index levels, are subject to revision for
 up to five years after their original release. For this reason, BLS advises against the 
 use of these data in escalation agreements.

 Effective with the calculation of the seasonal factors for 1990, the Bureau of Labor 
 Statistics has used an enhanced seasonal adjustment procedure called Intervention Analysis
 Seasonal Adjustment for some CPI series. Intervention Analysis Seasonal Adjustment allows
 for better estimates of seasonally adjusted data.  Extreme values and/or sharp movements 
 which might distort the seasonal pattern are estimated and removed from the data prior to
 calculation of seasonal factors. Beginning with the calculation of seasonal factors for 
 1996, X-12-ARIMA software was used for Intervention Analysis Seasonal Adjustment. In 
 2014, for the 2009-2013 revisions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics began using 
 X-13ARIMA-SEATS to perform the seasonal adjustment of CPI series, including Intervention 
 Analysis Seasonal Adjustment for certain series.

 For the seasonal factors introduced in January 2014, BLS adjusted 31 series using 
 Intervention Analysis Seasonal Adjustment, including selected food and beverage items, 
 motor fuels, electricity and vehicles.  For example, this procedure was used for the Motor
 fuel series to offset the effects of events such as the response in crude oil markets to 
 the worldwide economic downturn in 2008.  

 For a complete list of Intervention Analysis Seasonal Adjustment series and explanations, 
 please refer to the article "Intervention Analysis Seasonal Adjustment", located on our 
 website at http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpisapage.htm.  

 For additional information on seasonal adjustment in the CPI, please write to the Bureau 
 of Labor Statistics, Division of Consumer Prices and Price Indexes, Washington, DC 20212 
 or contact Chris Graci at (202) 691-5826, or by e-mail at graci.christopher@bls.gov, or 
 contact Carlyle Jackson at (202) 691-6984, or by e-mail at jackson.carlyle@bls.gov . 
 If you have general questions about the CPI, please call our information staff at
 (202) 691-7000.  



 Revised seasonally adjusted changes
 Over-the-month percent changes in the U.S. City Average Consumer Price Index for All 
 Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for All Items and for All Items less food and energy, seasonally 
 adjusted, using former and recalculated seasonal factors for 2013.

                                             All Items

 2013            Former                      Recalculated                    Difference


 January          .0                              .1                             .1
 February         .7                              .6                            -.1
 March           -.2                             -.2                             .0
 April           -.4                             -.2                             .2
 May              .1                              .2                             .1
 June             .5                              .3                            -.2
 July             .2                              .2                             .0
 August           .1                              .1                             .0
 September        .2                              .1                            -.1
 October         -.1                              .0                             .1
 November         .0                              .1                             .1
 December         .3                              .2                            -.1





                                    All Items less food and energy

 2013           Former                       Recalculated                    Difference


 January         .3                               .2                            -.1
 February        .2                               .2                             .0
 March           .1                               .1                             .0
 April           .1                               .1                             .0
 May             .2                               .1                             .1
 June            .2                               .2                             .0
 July            .2                               .2                             .0
 August          .1                               .1                             .0
 September       .1                               .1                             .0
 October         .1                               .1                             .0
 November        .2                               .2                             .0
 December        .1                               .1                             .0