The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the St. Louis, Mo.-Ill., metropolitan area declined 0.9 percent from the first half of 2014 to the first half of 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This is the first over-the-year decrease in the all items index since 2009. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that the energy index had the largest downward impact on the index. Energy costs fell 16.1 percent, food prices advanced 1.5 percent, and the all items less food and energy index rose 0.6 percent over the year.

Food

Food prices rose 1.5 percent from the first half of 2014 to the first half of 2015 led by a 3.9-percent rise in costs for food away from home. Prices for food at home also contributed to the increase with a gain of 0.3 percent. During the same period one year ago, these indexes rose 4.1 and 4.0 percent, respectively.

Energy

The energy index, which includes motor fuel and household fuels, decreased 16.1 percent from the first half of 2014 to the first half of 2015, after registering a 0.4-percent decline in the same period one year ago. Falling prices for motor fuel (-29.7 percent), most of which occurred in the most recent six months of the period, were largely responsible for lower energy costs. The index for utility (piped) gas service, down 1.6 percent, also contributed to the decrease. In contrast, prices for electricity advanced 5.2 percent over the year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.6 percent from the first half of 2014 to the first half of 2015, the smallest over-the-year gain since 2006. Among the expenditure categories posting higher costs were shelter (1.5 percent) and medical care (1.6 percent). In contrast, the indexes for apparel (-1.1 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-0.9 percent) were among the components that registered lower prices over the year.

The St. Louis CPI-U stood at 218.543 for the first half of 2015. This means that a market basket of goods and services that cost $100.00 in the 1982-84 base period cost $218.54 in the first half of 2015. Because metropolitan area CPI data are not adjusted for seasonal price variation, consumers and businesses should be cautious in drawing conclusions about long-term retail price trends from short-term changes in the metropolitan area indexes.

CPI-W

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the St. Louis, Mo.-Ill., metropolitan area for the first half of 2015 was 217.378. The CPI-W decreased 1.2 percent from the first half of 2014 to the first half of 2015.

The Consumer Price Index for the Second Half of 2015 is scheduled to be released in January 2016.

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes CPIs for two population groups: (1) a CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) which covers approximately 89 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 28 percent of the total population. The CPI-U includes, in addition to wage earners and clerical workers, 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 CPI is based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and the other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. Each month, prices are collected in 87 urban areas across the country from about 6,000 housing units and approximately 24,000 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.

The index measures price changes from a designated reference date (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. 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 see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cpi/.

In calculating the index, price changes for the various items in each location are averaged together with weights that represent their importance in the spending of the appropriate population group. Local data are then combined to obtain a U.S. city average. Because the sample size of a local area is smaller, the local area index is subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error than the national index. In addition, local indexes are not adjusted for seasonal influences. As a result, local area indexes show greater volatility than the national index, although their long-term trends are quite similar. NOTE: Area indexes do not measure differences in the level of prices between areas; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The St. Louis, Mo.-Ill., area covered in this release includes Clinton, Jersey, Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair Counties in Illinois; and Crawford (part), Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Warren Counties and St. Louis City in Missouri.

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