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Producer Price Indexes
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Highlights of the 2024 PPI User Survey
From July to October 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) conducted a user survey of its Producer Price Index (PPI) stakeholders to learn more about the data users and how they utilize PPI measures. The survey was distributed via email to more than 16,000 PPI stakeholders who had a preexisting relationship with the BLS, as either a PPI survey respondent, mailing list subscriber, or a data user who had contacted the BLS for technical information or assistance with the PPI. To maximize survey participation, BLS highlighted the survey on the PPI website and shared the survey link on the BLS X (Twitter) account. The survey resulted in a total of 2,301 responses.
The typical user of PPI data is a manager in a business organization who uses the PPI monthly for price trend analysis and forecasting or as a general indicator of inflation. However, there is more to discover in the survey’s results than the typical user’s profile.
Who are PPI data users?
Of the 2,301 responses, 80 percent reported on their association and 75 percent reported on their occupation.
The survey results indicated PPI data users are primarily businesses (65 percent), with industry/trade associations ranked second (11 percent), and individuals/private citizens ranked third (5 percent). Businesses being the primary user of PPI data isn’t an unexpected finding, because PPI data provides information on industrial prices. The business sector uses published PPI price measures for contract price adjustment, comparative price analysis, and price trend forecasting.
Of the 7 percent of data users that identified themselves as members of government, more than a quarter of those users identified their organization as a statistical agency. Most users were affiliated with the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (43 percent), other U.S. statistical agencies (25 percent), and state and local governments (12 percent).
From an occupational viewpoint, data users identified themselves most often as managers (21 percent), accountants (15 percent), controllers or finance officers (14 percent), and business owners (14 percent).
What PPI data are used, and how?
There were 961 responses addressing the multiple-response question on data use. PPI data users reported a wide variety of uses, including for price trend analysis and forecasting (55 percent), as a general indicator of inflation (45 percent), as a comparison to prices a company charges for its goods or services with those of its competitors (29 percent), and as a comparison to prices a company is charged for its inputs (15 percent).
When asked about the economic area(s) they are analyzing with PPI data, more than half of users indicated their focus on the manufacturing sector (54 percent), with construction ranked second (24 percent), and finance ranked third (20 percent).
Some users (28 percent) are applying PPI data to contract price adjustment. Results indicate that the average value of a contract escalated using PPI data is over $148 million dollars with a range of $1,000 to $1 billion dollars. This insight demonstrates the importance of using the PPI as a contract escalator properly, as a 1-percent error in the escalation of a $148 million dollar contract would result in a $1.48 million dollar adjustment.
Many PPI data users review PPI data monthly (44 percent) or quarterly (15 percent). Most data users select first-published PPI data (45 percent) and/or final PPI data (40 percent) while some users (35 percent) also use PPI data within the 4-month revision window. Furthermore, some data users (40 percent) use seasonally adjusted PPI data, citing a need for consistent comparative data analysis across different time periods (73 percent) and/or for short-to-medium price trend analysis (49 percent).
Results indicate that PPI data users also utilize other BLS indicators, including the Consumer Price Index or CPI (88 percent), the Unemployment Rate (44 percent), and the Employment Cost Index or ECI (37 percent).
Feedback from Data Users
The survey results find that of the PPI data users who provided an opinion, a majority agree that PPI data is high quality (69 percent), easily accessible (65 percent), easily organized (61 percent), and detailed enough (72 percent) to meet their needs. Of the subset of data users (22 percent) that have contacted PPI staff by email or phone within the last 2 years, most users are extremely, very, or moderately satisfied with their ease in contacting PPI staff (89 percent), the quality of response from PPI staff (90 percent), and the timeliness in PPI staff’s response (92 percent).
Suggested improvements from data users included coverage expansion, further documentation on product classification and index discontinuation, website navigation assistive resources, and enhanced data visualization tools. Data users’ top economic areas of interest for additional PPI coverage include construction; rental and leasing services; professional, scientific, and technical services; and accommodation services.
Comparison with the Previous User Survey
The previous user survey was conducted in 2013.[1] Since then, the PPI structure transitioned from the Stage of Processing (SOP) to the Final Demand-Intermediate Demand (FD-ID) aggregation system and introduced defense and non-defense-related purchase designations for the Government purchases sector, greatly expanding PPI coverage of the U.S. economy. The 2013 survey was conducted electronically, via email, to 42,000 PPI stakeholders. Comparatively, the 2024 survey was distributed electronically to more than 16,000 PPI stakeholders.
The 2013 survey found that the top 3 uses of PPI data, in descending order, were as a general indicator of inflation, for price trend analysis and forecasting, and for contract escalation. The 2024 survey determined the top 3 uses to be for price trend analysis and forecasting (55 percent), as a general indicator of inflation (45 percent), and for comparative price analysis (44 percent), while more than a quarter of data users (28 percent) cited using the PPI for contract price adjustment. These results indicate little change in how PPI data is used today versus in 2013, although it is reasonable to assume that increased use of PPI data for price trend analysis and forecasting is due to greater and more detailed PPI coverage of the U.S. economy.
Results from the 2013 survey indicated that most users were using the BLS website, the BLS News Service email subscription, and the Department of Labor (DOL) website to access PPI data. The 2024 survey found that most users were using the BLS website, other federal statistics websites, and the DOL website to access PPI data, while use of the BLS News Service email subscription decreased by more than two-thirds since the 2013 survey. While these findings illustrate minor change overall in how PPI data is being accessed today versus in 2013, the results do demonstrate an increased use of website sources amongst users.
The 2024 PPI User Survey results build upon the insights gained from the 2013 survey, demonstrating the evolving needs of PPI data users and the persistent use of PPI data through technological advancements and economic expansion over the past decade. The results of this survey will be used to help identify areas of emphasis for BLS in the future.
Nachelle Jackson, Economist
Producer Price Index
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
September 2026
[1] Antonio Lombardozzi and Joseph Kelley, “Highlights of the 2013 PPI User Survey,” Beyond the Numbers: Prices & Spending, vol. 2, no. 20 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2013), https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-2/highlights-of-the-2013-ppi-user-survey.htm
Last modified date: September 23, 2026