Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until
 8:30 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday, April 16, 2013   USDL-13-0668
 
 Technical information: (202) 691-7000  Reed.Steve@bls.gov  www.bls.gov/cpi
 Media Contact:         (202) 691-5902  PressOffice@bls.gov
 
                   Consumer Price Index - March 2013

 The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) decreased
 0.2 percent in March on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau
 of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all
 items index increased 1.5 percent before seasonal adjustment.
 
 The all items seasonally adjusted decrease was primarily due to a 4.4
 percent decline in the gasoline index. The indexes for electricity
 and fuel oil declined as well, as the energy index fell 2.6 percent
 in March after a 5.4 percent increase in February. The food index was
 unchanged in March, with the index for food at home declining
 slightly.
 
 The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.1 percent in
 March, after a 0.2 percent increase in February. The indexes for
 shelter, used cars and trucks, medical care, personal care, and
 airline fares all rose in March. These increases more than offset
 declines in the indexes for apparel, household furnishings and
 operations, and tobacco.
 
 The all items index increased 1.5 percent over the last 12 months;
 this compares to 2.0 percent last month and is the smallest increase
 since the 12 months ending July 2012. The index for all items less
 food and energy increased 1.9 percent over the last 12 months. The
 food index rose 1.5 percent while the energy index declined 1.6
 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.
                              Sep.  Oct.  Nov.  Dec.  Jan.  Feb.  Mar.   ended 
                              2012  2012  2012  2012  2013  2013  2013   Mar.  
                                                                         2013  
                                                                                                                                                              
 All items..................    .5    .2   -.2    .0    .0    .7   -.2      1.5
  Food......................    .1    .2    .2    .2    .0    .1    .0      1.5
   Food at home.............   -.1    .3    .3    .2    .0    .1   -.1      1.0
   Food away from home (1)..    .2    .1    .1    .1    .1    .1    .2      2.3
  Energy....................   3.9    .1  -3.4   -.8  -1.7   5.4  -2.6     -1.6
   Energy commodities.......   6.1    .1  -5.7  -1.5  -3.0   8.6  -4.1     -3.1
    Gasoline (all types)....   6.3   -.1  -6.0  -1.9  -3.0   9.1  -4.4     -3.1
    Fuel oil (1)............   4.1   1.1   -.2    .0   -.2   3.1  -2.1     -2.4
   Energy services..........    .4    .2    .6    .3    .4    .5   -.2      1.1
    Electricity.............    .1    .3    .4    .2   1.1    .3   -.6       .9
    Utility (piped) gas                                                        
       service..............   1.2   -.2   1.5    .7  -1.7   1.2   1.0      1.8
  All items less food and                                                      
     energy.................    .2    .2    .1    .1    .3    .2    .1      1.9
   Commodities less food and                                                   
      energy commodities....   -.1    .0   -.1   -.1    .2    .0   -.1       .0
    New vehicles............    .0    .1    .3    .2    .1   -.3    .1      1.1
    Used cars and trucks....  -1.4   -.7   -.4   -.3    .2    .8   1.2       .1
    Apparel.................    .5    .6   -.5    .1    .8   -.1  -1.0       .8
    Medical care commodities   -.1    .1   -.3   -.3    .1   -.4    .1       .6
   Services less energy                                                        
      services..............    .2    .2    .2    .2    .3    .2    .2      2.5
    Shelter.................    .2    .2    .2    .1    .2    .2    .2      2.2
    Transportation services     .5    .6    .2    .4    .5    .1    .2      3.1
    Medical care services...    .3    .1    .3    .3    .2    .3    .3      3.9

   1 Not seasonally adjusted.




 Consumer Price Index Data for March 2013
 
 Food
 
 The food index was unchanged in March as a 0.2 percent increase in
 the index for food away from home offset a 0.1 percent decline in the
 food at home index. Within food at home, three of the six major
 grocery store food group indexes declined. The dairy group posted the
 largest decrease, falling 0.6 percent after a 0.4 percent decline in
 February. The fruits and vegetables index fell 0.4 percent in March
 after rising in February, and the index for nonalcoholic beverages
 declined 0.2 percent. The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs
 was unchanged in March after rising 0.5 percent the previous month.
 The indexes for cereals and bakery products and for other food at
 home both increased 0.2 percent in March. Over the last 12 months,
 the food at home index has risen 1.0 percent. The fruits and
 vegetables index rose 4.4 percent over that span, the largest
 increase among the food groups, while the indexes for dairy and
 related products and for nonalcoholic beverages both declined. The
 index for food away from home has risen 2.3 percent over the past
 year.


 Energy
 
 The energy index turned down in March, falling 2.6 percent after a
 sharp February increase. The gasoline index, which rose 9.1 percent
 in February, fell 4.4 percent in March. (Before seasonal adjustment,
 gasoline prices increased 1.4 percent in March.) The index for fuel
 oil also turned down, falling 2.1 percent in March after rising 3.1
 percent in February. The electricity index fell 0.6 percent after a
 0.3 percent February increase. In contrast to these declines, the
 index for natural gas increased 1.0 percent, its fourth increase in
 the last five months. Over the past 12 months, the indexes for
 gasoline and fuel oil have declined; gasoline by 3.1 percent and fuel
 oil by 2.4 percent. The indexes for natural gas and electricity have
 risen; natural gas by 1.8 percent and electricity by 0.9 percent.


 All items less food and energy

 The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.1 percent in
 March following increases of 0.3 percent in January and 0.2 percent
 in February. The shelter index increased 0.2 percent for the third
 month in a row. The rent index rose 0.2 percent while the index for
 owners' equivalent rent advanced 0.1 percent. The index for used cars
 and trucks rose 1.2 percent in March following a 0.8 percent increase
 in February. The index for medical care rose 0.3 percent in March,
 its largest increase since July 2012. The index for airline fares
 turned up in March, rising 0.6 percent after declining 0.3 percent in
 February. The personal care index also rose in March, increasing 0.2
 percent, while the index for new vehicles increased 0.1 percent.
 Several indexes declined in March, most notably apparel, which fell
 1.0 percent, its largest decline since April 2001. The index for
 household furnishings and operations fell 0.3 percent, its third
 decline in four months, while the tobacco index decreased 0.2
 percent. The recreation index, which increased in January and
 February, declined 0.1 percent in March.

 The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.9 percent
 for the 12 months ending March. Component indexes rising more quickly
 than this include airline fare (3.8 percent), medical care (3.1
 percent), and shelter (2.2 percent). Among those indexes rising more
 slowly are new vehicles (1.1 percent), apparel (0.8 percent), and
 used cars and trucks (0.1 percent). The index for household
 furnishings and operations declined 0.6 percent over the span.

 Not seasonally adjusted CPI measures
 
 The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased
 1.5 percent over the last 12 months to an index level of 232.773
 (1982-84=100). For the month, the index increased 0.3 percent prior
 to seasonal adjustment.
 
 The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers
 (CPI-W) increased 1.3 percent over the last 12 months to an index
 level of 229.323  (1982-84=100). For the month, the index increased
 0.3 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 increased 0.2 percent on a not seasonally adjusted basis.
 Please note that the indexes for the post-2011 period are subject to
 revision.

 
 The Consumer Price Index for April 2013 is scheduled to be released
 on Thursday, May 16, 2013, at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).



 Discontinuation of Department Store Inventory Indexes
 
 The Bureau of Labor Statistics will discontinue publication of its
 Department Store Inventory indexes after the release of the December
 2013 CPI in mid-January 2014, and these values will no longer be
 uploaded to the Labstat database. For further information please
 contact Sharon Gibson at 202-691-6968 or gibson.sharon@bls.gov.
 
 Publication Changes for Average Price Series
 
 The Bureau of Labor Statistics will discontinue publication of three
 average price series after the release of the June 2013 CPI in mid-
 July 2013. They are:

  -         utility (piped) gas, 40 therms;
  -         utility (piped) gas, 100 therms; and
  -         electricity, 500 kilowatt hours.

 The Bureau will, however, continue to publish average prices for
 utility (piped) gas on a per therm basis, and will continue to
 publish electricity prices on a per kilowatt hour basis. As such,
 users will be able to convert these data to any consumption amount.
  CPI Detailed Report table P1. Average residential prices for utility
 (piped) gas, electricity, and fuel oil, U.S. city average and
 selected areas will no longer be published.  Data for fuel oil #2,
 per gallon (3.785 liters) will continue to be available in the CPI
 Average Price Data public database.

 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 cover 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-12-ARIMA Seasonal Adjustment Method.  Seasonally
 adjusted indexes and seasonal factors are computed annually.  Each
 year, the last 5 years of seasonally adjusted data are revised.  Data
 from January 2008 through December 2012 were replaced in January
 2013.  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 54 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 5 years, but the seasonally adjusted indexes before that
 period will not be changed.  Note: 37 of the 82 components are not
 seasonally adjusted for 2013.
 
 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.
 
 For the seasonal factors introduced in January 2013, 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 damage to oil
 refineries from Hurricane Katrina.
 
 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.