Bureau of Labor Statistics
Internet Address: www.bls.gov/ro2/home.htm For release: Thursday, August 14, 2008 Media Contact: Michael L. Dolfman,(212) 337-2500 Information: Martin Kohli,(646) 264-3620 Northeast Region Consumer Price Index: July 2008 Retail prices in the Northeast region, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), rose 0.8 percent in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Michael L. Dolfman, the Bureau's regional commissioner, noted that increases in the housing and food and beverages indexes were largely responsible for the recent advance; only the apparel and recreation indexes were lower since June. The July level of 234.545 (1982-84=100) was 5.7 percent higher than a year ago-the largest 12-month increase since February 1991. Over the same period, the core inflation rate, as measured by the all items less food and energy index, rose 2.6 percent. (See table 1.) Chart A. 1-month and 12-month percent changes ended July 2008 for the major categories of the CPI-U for the Northeast region, not seasonally adjustedThe housing index rose 1.3 percent in July, due primarily to higher shelter prices. The shelter index, which includes rent of primary residence, lodging away from home, owners' equivalent rent of primary residence, and tenants' and household insurance, increased 1.0 percent over the month and was 2.1 percent higher over the year. Also contributing to the overall rise in the housing index were higher fuels and utilities prices, up 3.7 percent over the month. Utility (piped) gas service prices jumped 8.3 percent in July to a level 27.1 percent higher than a year ago. Electricity prices increased for the fourth consecutive month, up 13.4 percent since March and 2.9 percent over the month. Since July 2007, electricity prices were 7.7 percent higher. The fuels and utilities index advanced 22.5 percent since last year. Prices for household furnishings and operations, the third component of the housing index, were down 0.5 percent in July and were 0.2 percent lower than last year. Over the last 12 months, the overall housing index advanced 4.5 percent. Due mostly to a 1.3-percent rise in food at home prices, the food and beverages index was up 1.0 percent since June. Over the year, food at home prices rose 6.5 percent-the largest 12-month advance since April 1990. Prices for food away from home (0.6 percent) and alcoholic beverages (0.8 percent) were also higher over the month; these two components posted over-the-year increases of 4.1 and 4.6 percent, respectively. The overall food and beverages index advanced 5.4 percent over the last 12 months. The transportation index rose 0.5 percent in July due mainly to higher gasoline prices, which rose for the fifth straight month, up 33.2 percent since February and 0.8 percent since June. Gasoline prices were 38.0 percent higher over the year-the largest over-the-year increase since September 2005, when prices were 60.6 percent higher due to the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Since July 2007, the transportation index advanced 12.9 percent. The other goods and services index increased for the seventh straight month, up 4.6 percent since December and 1.5 percent since June. Over the year, the other goods and services index (which includes tobacco and smoking products, personal care products and services, and miscellaneous personal services such as legal, funeral, and laundry and dry cleaning services) was 5.2 percent higher. The education and communication index was up 0.6 percent in July. Due to increases in 10 of the last 12 months, the education and communication index was 5.1 percent higher than last year. Following no change in June, medical care prices were up 0.4 percent in July, due largely to higher prices for medical care services. Medical care services prices rose 0.5 percent over the month and 3.3 percent over the year. The medical care commodities index also increased, up 0.3 percent since last month and 3.5 percent since last year. The overall medical care index advanced 3.4 percent over the last 12 months. The remaining categories had price declines in July. The apparel index had a smaller-than-normal seasonal decrease of 2.1 percent over the month. The recent June-July decrease was lower than the 3.2-percent average for the same one-month period for the last five years. Despite the recent decline, apparel prices were 0.2 percent higher over the year. Following six consecutive months of increases totaling 2.6 percent, recreation prices inched down 0.1 percent in July. Over the year, the recreation index was 2.5 percent higher. The energy index, which reflects prices for gasoline and household fuels, increased 2.3 percent in July. The recent advance was due mainly to higher prices for utility (piped) gas service (8.3 percent) and electricity (2.9 percent). Also contributing to the advance in the overall energy index were higher gasoline prices (0.8 percent). The energy index was 31.1 percent higher than in July 2007. The Northeast region is comprised of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. NYLS - 7343 Labor - New York 08/14/08 The relative importance of a component of the CPI is its expenditure or value weight expressed as a percentage of all items within an area. Relative importance ratios show approximately how the index population distributes expenditures when the value weights are collected and represent an estimate of how consumers would distribute their expenditures as prices change over time. Relative importance ratios cannot be used as estimates of current spending patterns or as indicators of changing consumer expenditures in the intervals between weight revisions because consumption patterns are influenced by factors-including income, variations in climate, family size, and availability of new and different kinds of goods and services-other than price change. (See table A.) Table A (2005-2006 Weights). Relative importance of components in the Consumer Price Index, Northeast Region, December 2007 ------------------------------------------------------------ Item and group CPI-U ------------------------------------------------------------ Expenditure category All items 100.000 Food and beverages 15.009 Food 13.961 Food at home 7.703 Food away from home 6.258 Alcoholic beverages 1.048 Housing 44.377 Shelter 34.775 Rent of primary residence 6.527 Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence 24.696 Fuels and utilities 5.691 Household energy 5.043 Gas (piped) and electricity 3.983 Electricity 2.617 Utility (piped) gas service 1.366 Household furnishings and operations 3.911 Apparel 3.697 Transportation 16.030 Private transportation 14.685 New and used motor vehicles 6.306 New vehicles 4.093 Used cars and trucks 1.315 Motor fuel 4.643 Gasoline (all types) 4.472 Medical care 5.780 Medical care commodities 1.469 Medical care services 4.311 Professional services 2.512 Recreation 5.387 Education and communication 6.455 Other goods and services 3.265 Commodity and service group Commodities 38.761 Commodities less food and beverages 23.752 Nondurables less food and beverages 14.799 Durables 8.954 Services 61.239 Special aggregate indexes All items less medical care 94.220 All items less shelter 65.225 Commodities less food 24.800 Nondurables 29.807 Nondurables less food 15.846 Services less rent of shelter 26.745 Services less medical care services 56.928 Energy 9.686 All items less energy 90.314 All items less food and energy 76.353 ------------------------------------------------------------ Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods Northeast (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted) Indexes Percent change from- Item and Group May June July July May June 2008 2008 2008 2007 2008 2008 Expenditure category All items.................................... 230.089 232.649 234.545 5.7 1.9 0.8 All items (December 1977=100) ............... 362.320 366.350 369.336 - - - Food and beverages.......................... 216.834 217.241 219.381 5.4 1.2 1.0 Food....................................... 216.491 216.856 219.022 5.5 1.2 1.0 Food at home.............................. 216.798 216.993 219.811 6.5 1.4 1.3 Food away from home....................... 219.112 219.696 221.073 4.1 .9 .6 Alcoholic beverages........................ 220.239 221.211 222.971 4.6 1.2 .8 Housing..................................... 241.804 245.344 248.478 4.5 2.8 1.3 Shelter.................................... 284.456 286.537 289.487 2.1 1.8 1.0 Rent of primary residence 1/............. 272.267 273.571 275.313 4.2 1.1 .6 Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence 1/ 2/ ...................... 292.731 293.568 293.833 2.2 .4 .1 Fuels and utilities........................ 231.272 246.288 255.437 22.5 10.4 3.7 Household energy.......................... 219.610 235.551 244.871 24.7 11.5 4.0 Gas (piped) and electricity 1/........... 206.634 220.771 231.272 14.2 11.9 4.8 Electricity 1/.......................... 183.407 197.985 203.777 7.7 11.1 2.9 Utility (piped) gas service 1/.......... 250.680 262.683 284.371 27.1 13.4 8.3 Household furnishings and operations....... 128.882 129.114 128.437 -.2 -.3 -.5 Apparel..................................... 118.835 114.157 111.732 .2 -6.0 -2.1 Transportation.............................. 202.412 208.424 209.419 12.9 3.5 .5 Private transportation..................... 196.771 202.410 203.358 13.1 3.3 .5 New and used motor vehicles 3/............ 92.711 92.782 93.137 .8 .5 .4 New vehicles............................. 134.606 134.544 134.549 .1 .0 .0 New cars and trucks 3/4/................ 93.376 93.326 93.256 .0 -.1 -.1 New cars 4/............................. 133.222 133.377 133.794 .3 .4 .3 Used cars and trucks..................... 141.317 140.978 140.913 .0 -.3 .0 Motor fuel................................ 312.553 336.641 339.083 38.3 8.5 .7 Gasoline (all types)..................... 309.904 333.952 336.470 38.0 8.6 .8 Gasoline, unleaded regular 4/........... 313.343 337.919 340.279 38.5 8.6 .7 Gasoline, unleaded midgrade 4/5/........ 312.313 336.322 339.074 37.4 8.6 .8 Gasoline, unleaded premium 4/........... 294.905 316.891 319.942 35.8 8.5 1.0 Medical care................................ 386.436 386.606 388.202 3.4 .5 .4 Medical care commodities................... 317.377 318.695 319.574 3.5 .7 .3 Medical care services...................... 404.777 404.443 406.302 3.3 .4 .5 Professional services..................... 318.072 317.880 318.681 3.0 .2 .3 Recreation 3/............................... 115.590 116.074 115.904 2.5 0.3 -0.1 Education and communication 3/.............. 125.377 125.985 126.702 5.1 1.1 .6 Other goods and services.................... 363.900 367.991 373.338 5.2 2.6 1.5 Commodity and service group All items.................................... 230.089 232.649 234.545 5.7 1.9 .8 Commodities................................. 183.060 185.240 185.942 8.6 1.6 .4 Commodities less food and beverages........ 161.362 164.272 164.297 10.7 1.8 .0 Nondurables less food and beverages....... 206.994 212.711 213.027 17.9 2.9 .1 Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel.............................. 275.262 288.540 290.819 23.9 5.7 .8 Durables.................................. 109.997 110.055 109.797 -.7 -.2 -.2 Services.................................... 276.128 279.059 282.128 3.8 2.2 1.1 Rent of shelter 2/......................... 297.553 299.739 302.827 2.1 1.8 1.0 Transportation services.................... 230.268 233.262 234.822 5.5 2.0 .7 Other services............................. 313.914 315.166 316.392 4.7 .8 .4 Special aggregate indexes All items less medical care.................. 222.964 225.588 227.481 5.8 2.0 .8 All items less food.......................... 232.763 235.707 237.559 5.7 2.1 .8 All items less shelter....................... 212.004 214.783 216.295 7.6 2.0 .7 Commodities less food........................ 163.787 166.649 166.727 10.4 1.8 .0 Nondurables.................................. 213.089 216.311 217.499 11.5 2.1 .5 Nondurables less food........................ 207.644 213.083 213.482 17.0 2.8 .2 Nondurables less food and apparel............ 267.661 279.648 281.857 22.2 5.3 .8 Services less rent of shelter (2) ........... 276.545 280.637 283.973 6.1 2.7 1.2 Services less medical care services.......... 266.787 269.849 272.946 3.9 2.3 1.1 Energy....................................... 258.553 277.910 284.330 31.1 10.0 2.3 All items less energy........................ 229.145 229.918 231.345 3.0 1.0 .6 All items less food and energy.............. 232.894 233.753 235.040 2.6 .9 .6 Commodities less food and energy commodities............................ 142.781 142.106 141.711 1.0 -.7 -.3 Energy commodities......................... 327.373 353.135 356.217 44.1 8.8 .9 Services less energy services.............. 283.056 284.891 287.234 3.1 1.5 .8 1/This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. 2/Index is on a December 1982=100 base. 3/Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. 4/Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. 5/Indexes on a December 1993=100 base. - Data not available.
Last Modified Date: August 15, 2008
