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Producer Price Indexes
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Producer Price Index Methodology
BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 14, Producer Price Indexes
Frequently Asked Questions
- How are PPIs calculated?
- How are PPIs weighted?
- Are PPIs seasonally adjusted?
- How are producers and products selected for the PPI survey?
How the BLS Measures Price Changes in PPIs for...
- Slaughter Cattle and for Feeder and Replacement Cattle
- Electric Power Generation and Electric Bulk Power Transmission and Control (NAICS 221110 and 221121)
- Nonresidential Building Construction Sector — New Industrial Building Construction (NAICS 236211)
- Nonresidential Building Construction Sector — New Warehouse Building Construction (NAICS 236221)
- Nonresidential Building Construction Sector — New School Construction (NAICS 236222)
- Nonresidential Building Construction Sector — New Office Building Construction (NAICS 236223)
- Nonresidential Building Construction Sector — New Health Care Building Construction (NAICS 236224)
- Nonresidential Building Construction Sector— Construction Trade Contractors (NAICS 23811X, 23816X, 23821X, and 23822X)
- Petroleum Refining (NAICS 324110)
- Wholesale Trade Sector (NAICS 423 and 424)
- Retail Trade Sector: Complete Coverage
- Television Broadcast Industry (NAICS 515120)
- Wired Telecommunications Carriers (NAICS 517311)
- Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (NAICS 517312)
- Data Processing and Related Services Industry (NAICS 518210)
- Internet Publishing and Web Search Portals (NAICS 519130)
- Commercial Banking and Savings Institutions (NAICS 522110 and 522120)
- Security and Commodity Contracts Intermediaries and Brokerages (NAICS 5231)
- Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (NAICS 523920 and 523930)
- Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers (NAICS 524114)
- Insurance Agencies and Brokerages (NAICS 524210)
- Construction, Mining, and Forestry Machinery and Equipment Rental and Leasing (NAICS 532412)
- Management Consulting Services (NAICS 541610)
- Security Guards and Patrol Services (NAICS 561612)
- Offices of Dentists (NAICS 621210)
- Blood and Organ Banks (NAICS 621991)
- Amusement and Theme Parks (NAICS 713110)
- Golf Courses and Country Clubs (NAICS 713910)
- Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers (NAICS 713940)
- Commercial and Industrial Machinery and Equipment (except Automotive and Electronic) Repair and Maintenance (NAICS 811310)
Methodology Reports
- News Release Technical Note (HTML)
- Variance and Standard Error Estimates for PPI Data
- Final Demand-Intermediate Demand Aggregation System Indexes Summary Explanation (HTML)
- Comparability of Producer (PPI) and Import (MPI) Price Indexes
- Commodity Weight Allocations to Final Demand-Intermediate Demand Updated with 2007 BEA Data (HTML)
- 2002 BEA Data Analysis for the Development of the PPI FD-ID Aggregation System (PDF)
- Effect of 2007 Weights on PPI Commodity Data (2012) (PDF)
- The Pharmaceutical Industry: An Overview of CPI, PPI, and IPP Methodology (2021) (PDF)
- Quality Adjustment in the PPI
- A new approach for quality-adjusting PPI microprocessors (December 2018)
- PPI Introduces Hedonic Price Estimation for Notebook Microprocessors (July 2018)
- PPI Introduces Hedonic Price Estimation for Server Microprocessors (July 2018)
- Hedonic Price Estimation for Integrated Microcircuits Producer Price Indexes (February 2018)
- Cross-validation of quality-adjustment methods for price indexes (June 2018)
- Hedonic Quality Adjustment for Internet Access Indexes (January 2017)
- Quality Adjustment in the Producer Price Index (PDF) (2013)
- Hedonic Models for Quality Adjustment in the Producer Price Index (2011)
- Quality Adjustment for Changes to Gasoline Resulting from the Reformulated Gasoline Program, Phase 2 (2004)
- Seasonal Adjustment in the PPI
- Intervention Analysis Example
- Additional Information
- Seasonal Adjustment Method
- Intervention Adjustment Series
- PPI and CPI seasonal adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic
Articles and Research Papers
Quarterly Topical Articles
Beyond the Numbers: Prices & Spending
- Wholesale and retail Producer Price Indexes: margin prices (2Q 2012) (HTML) (PDF)
- How new fees are affecting the Producer Price Index for air travel (1Q 2012) (HTML) (PDF)
Focus on Prices and Spending
- The 2012 PPI Weight Update: How and why does BLS update revenue weights? (4Q 2011) (PDF)
- The Impact of Fuel Surcharges on the PPI (2Q 2011) (PDF)
- What Does the Producer Price Index Measure? (3Q 2010) (HTML) (PDF)
- PPI Industry or Commodity Data: Which Better Suits Your Needs? (2Q 2010) (PDF)
Economic Working Papers
- Services Producer Price Indices: Past, Present, and Future (2006) (PDF)
- A Comparison of the Substitution Effects for Input and Output Price Indexes (2000) (HTML)
- The Productivity of the Banking Sector: Integrating Financial and Production Approaches to Measuring Financial Services Output (1998) (PDF 4MB)
- Hedonic Adjustment of Hospital Service Price Inflation: An Application to Medicare Prices (1998) (PDF)
- Nondurables and Services Responsiveness in a Nonlinear Model: More Evidence of Binding Borrowing Constraints (1997) (HTML)
- Interarea Price Comparisons for Heterogeneous Goods and Several Levels of Commodity Aggregation (1996) (HTML)
- Effects of Mismeasuring Base Period Prices When Estimating the Laspeyres Index: Some Idealized Cases (1996) (PDF)
- Moral Hazard, Asymmetric Decisions, and the Shadow Price for Quality Adjustment in Medical Services (1996) (PDF)
BLS Statistical Survey Papers
- Adjusting Sampling and Weighting to Account for Births and Deaths (2009) (HTML)
- Estimating Missing Prices in Producer Price Index (2006) (HTML)
- A Qualitative Study of Nonresponse Factors Affecting BLS Establishment Surveys: Results (2003) (HTML)
- A Note on the Effects of Extreme Price Values on Price Indexes (2002) (HTML)
- Comparison of Variance Estimation Techniques for a Price Index with Non-Independent Weights (2002) (HTML)
- Some Issues in Seasonal Adjustment When Modeling Interventions (1993) (HTML)
Monthly Labor Review Articles on PPI Methodology
- Measuring the substitution effect in Producer Price Index goods data: 2002–16 (July 2020)
- A new approach for quality-adjusting PPI microprocessors (December 2018)
- Cross-validation of quality-adjustment methods for price indexes (June 2018)
- Comparing NAICS-based Producer Price Index industry net output data and International Price Program import data (March 2018) (HTML)
- Crude petroleum prices and retail fuel margins: an empirical examination (January 2018) (HTML)
- New PPI net inputs to industry indexes (October 2015) (HTML)
- Scheduled passenger air transportation in the Producer Price Index: improvements and trends (September 2013) (HTML)
- Methodological Overview of the PPI FD-ID Aggregation System (February 2011) (PDF)
- PPI and CPI seasonal adjustment: an update (July 2010) (PDF)
- New wherever-provided services and construction indexes for PPI (August 2009) (PDF)
- Price measures of new vehicles: a comparison (July 2008) (PDF)
- Price transmission: from crude petroleum to plastics products (December 2006) (PDF)
- Price and expenditure measures of petroleum products: a comparison (December 2006) (PDF)
- Price transmission within the PPI for intermediate goods (May 2005) (PDF)
- Factors affecting beef and cattle producer prices movements (May 2005) (PDF)
- Consumer gasoline prices: an empirical investigation (July 2003) (PDF)
- An empirical analysis of price transmission by stage of processing (November 2002) (PDF)
- Comparing PPI energy indexes to alternative data sources (December 1998) (PDF)
- The 1996 grain price shock: how did it affect food inflation? (August 1998) (PDF)
- Improving the PPI samples for prescription pharmaceuticals (October 1997) (PDF)
- Effect of 1992 weights on Producer Price Indexes (July 1996) (PDF)
- Hospital price inflation: what does the new PPI tell us? (July 1996) (PDF)
- Pricing practices for tobacco products, 1980-94 (December 1994) (PDF)
- Effect of updated weights on Producer Price Indexes (March 1993) (PDF)
- New price index for the computer industry (October 1990) (PDF 1,150K)
- New stage of process price system for Producer Price Index (April 1988) (PDF 4,202K)
All PPI Monthly Labor Review Articles »
Special Notices
- PPI to Publish Interim Index Values to 3 Decimal Places (September 2021)
- PPI Updates to 2012 Commodity Weight Allocations For the Final Demand–Intermediate Demand Aggregations Structure (February 2021)
- PPI Industry Net Output Ratios to be Updated with 2012 Input-Output Data (April 2019)
- PPI Introduces Hedonic Price Estimation for Notebook Microprocessors (July 2018)
- PPI Introduces Hedonic Price Estimation for Server Microprocessors (July 2018)
- PPI Introduces Hedonic Price Estimation for Integrated Microcircuits Indexes (February 2018)
- PPI Introduces Hedonic Quality Adjustment for Internet Access Indexes (January 2017)
- Updated Inputs to Industry Producer Price Indexes (February 2015)
- PPI Industry Net Output Ratios Updated (January 2015)
- PPI Commodity Weight Allocations to Final Demand-Intermediate Demand (November 2014)
- PPI Expands Seasonal Adjustment Coverage (February 2013)
- PPI Implements NAICS 2012 (January 2012)
- PPI Weights to be Updated (November 2011)
- PPI Introduces Experimental FD-ID Aggregation System (January 2011)
- PPI Enhances the Indexes for Prescription and Non-Prescription Pharmaceuticals (January 2010)
- PPI Updates Industry Net Output Ratios (August 2009)
- PPI Introduces Wherever-Provided Services and Construction Indexes (July 2009)
- Updated PPI Commodity Weight Allocations to Stage-of-Processing Indexes (January 2009)
- New Aggregate Net Output Indexes (January 2007)
- Conversion to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) (January 2004)
- Rebasing of Selected Producer Price Indexes (May 1999)
Further Information
For further assistance contact the PPI Section of Index Analysis and Public Information at ppi-info@bls.gov or (202) 691-7705.
Last Modified Date: February 1, 2022