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 PLS – 4448
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008
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Philadelphia Area Consumer Price Index: August 2008 (PDF)

Retail prices in the Philadelphia area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), were unchanged from June to August, following a 2.1-percent increase in the previous two-month period, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  Sheila Watkins, the Bureau's regional commissioner, noted that advances in most major categories that comprise the CPI, led by housing and education and communication, were offset by lower prices for transportation, apparel, and recreation.  (See chart A.)  The August level of 228.337 (1982-84 = 100) was 4.4 percent higher than in August 2007.  Over the same period, the core inflation rate, as measured by the all items less food and energy index, rose 2.1 percent.  (See table 1.)

Chart A.  2-month and 12-month percent changes ended August 2008 for the major categories of the CPI-U for the Philadelphia area, not seasonally adjusted


chart data

Due mainly to higher shelter prices, the housing index rose 0.5 percent from June to August.  The shelter index, which includes rent of primary residence, lodging away from home, owners’ equivalent rent of primary residence, and tenants’ and household insurance, edged up 0.3 percent since June to a level 1.3 percent higher than a year ago.  Fuels and utilities prices increased 1.4 percent over the last two months due almost entirely to higher prices for water and sewerage maintenance and electricity.  Electricity prices rose 1.1 percent since June, while utility (piped) gas service prices were unchanged over the bimonthly period; these two indexes were 3.4 and 13.1 percent higher, respectively, than year-ago levels.  The overall fuels and utilities index advanced 11.5 percent since August 2007.  Higher prices for major appliances helped push prices for household furnishings and operations, the third component of the housing index, up 0.3 percent from June to August; household furnishings and operations prices rose 3.1 percent over the last 12 months.  The overall housing index advanced 2.9 percent since last August.

Following normal seasonal patterns, the education and communication index advanced 1.5 percent over the last two months; higher prices for college tuition and fees were primarily responsible for the recent increase.  Over the year, education and communication prices rose 3.2 percent.

The food and beverages index increased 0.4 percent from June to August, as a 1.6-percent increase in prices for food at home was partially offset by a 1.2-percent decline in prices for food away from home.  Over the last 12 months, prices rose for both food at home (5.3 percent) and food away from home (1.4 percent).  The alcoholic beverages index was up 0.7 percent since June and 2.0 percent since August 2007.  The overall food and beverages index advanced 3.4 percent over the year.

The other goods and services index, which includes tobacco and smoking products, personal care products, personal care services, and miscellaneous personal services such as legal, funeral, and laundry and dry cleaning services, rose 1.0 percent from June to August to a level 1.7 percent higher than a year ago.

The medical care index rose for the fourth consecutive bimonthly period, up 0.3 percent since June and 2.9 percent since December 2007.  The medical care index was 3.9 percent higher than its year-ago level—the largest 12-month advance since December 2006.

The remaining categories had lower prices from June to August.  Following two consecutive bimonthly increases totaling 10.8 percent, the transportation index fell 2.0 percent since June.  The recent decline in transportation prices was dominated by a 6.5-percent drop in gasoline prices.  Despite this decline, gasoline prices were 36.3 percent higher than in August 2007.  Helping to moderate the two-month decrease in the transportation index were higher prices for airline fare.  Over the last 12 months, the transportation index rose 12.7 percent.

The apparel index fell 2.5 percent from June to August, reflecting lower prices for a number of items, including boys’ apparel.  Since August 2007, apparel prices declined 1.5 percent.

The recreation index edged down 0.3 percent over the last two months, due in part to lower prices for televisions and toys.  Due to increases in four of the last six bimonthly periods, recreation prices advanced 3.9 percent over the year.

The energy index, which reflects prices for gasoline and household fuels, declined 3.0 percent since June, due almost entirely to lower gasoline prices, which were down 6.5 percent over the last two months.  A 1.1-percent increase in electricity prices moderated the recent decrease in the energy index.  Since last August, energy prices rose 22.7 percent.

The services index rose 0.7 percent, while the commodities index fell 1.3 percent over the last two months.  Both indexes were higher over the year, up 2.8 and 7.0 percent, respectively.

The CPI-U for the Philadelphia area stood at 228.337 on the 1982-84=100 reference base, which means that a market basket of goods and services which averaged $100.00 in 1982-84 would have cost $228.34 last month.

The Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md., Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA), includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem Counties in New Jersey; New Castle County in Delaware; and Cecil County in Maryland.

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: Philadelphia area, December 2007
Item and group CPI-U
Expenditure category

All items

 100.000

Food and beverages

 13.580

Food

 12.650

Food at home

 6.994

Food away from home

 5.655

Alcoholic beverages

 0.930

Housing

 46.849

Shelter

 36.425

Rent of primary residence

 5.817

Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence

 28.291

Fuels and utilities

 6.692

Household energy

 5.757

Gas (piped) and electricity

 4.928

Electricity

 3.369

Utility (piped) gas service

 1.560

Household furnishings and operations

 3.731

Apparel

 3.719

Transportation

 16.101

Private transportation

 14.978

Motor fuel

 4.893

Gasoline

 4.664

Medical care

 5.119

Recreation

 4.889

Education and communication

 6.654

Other goods and services

 3.089
Commodity and service group

Commodities

 37.045

Commodities less food and beverages

 23.465

Non durables less food and beverages

 14.629

Durables

 8.836

Services

 62.955
Special aggregate indexes

All items less medical care

 94.881

All items less shelter

 63.575

Commodities less food

 24.396

Nondurables

 28.209

Nondurables less food

 15.559

Services less rent of shelter

 26.833

Services less medical care services

 59.246

Energy

 10.650

All items less energy

 89.350

All items less food and energy

 76.700
Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods, Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Expenditure category Indexes Percent change from-
June 2008 July 2008 Aug. 2008 Aug. 2007 June 2008 July 2008

All items

 228.408 - 228.337 4.4 0.0 -

Food and beverages

 202.475 - 203.201 3.4 0.4 -

Food

 202.398 - 203.080 3.5 0.3 -

Food at home

 213.771 218.483 217.116 5.3 1.6 -0.6

Food away from home

 182.530 - 180.370 1.4 -1.2 -

Alcoholic beverages

 200.829 - 202.158 2.0 0.7 -

Housing

 234.992 - 236.167 2.9 0.5 -

Shelter

 275.900 277.355 276.859 1.3 0.3 -0.2

Rent of primary residence (1)

 253.974 255.566 256.267 2.9 0.9 0.3

Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence (1) (2)

 280.723 280.644 280.050 1.4 -0.2 -0.2

Fuels and utilities

 231.108 - 234.266 11.5 1.4 -

Household energy

 216.432 218.712 217.511 11.8 0.5 -0.5

Gas (piped) and electricity (1)

223.100 223.649 224.802 6.3 0.8 0.5

Electricity (1)

208.624 209.379 210.970 3.4 1.1 0.8

Utility (piped) gas service (1)

 254.713 254.720 254.720 13.1 0.0 0.0

Household furnishings and operations

 125.377 - 125.706 3.1 0.3 -

Apparel

 101.322 - 98.789 -1.5 -2.5 -

Transportation

 213.763 - 209.522 12.7 -2.0 -

Private transportation

 211.690 - 205.959 12.5 -2.7 -

Motor fuel

 361.735 364.608 338.371 36.9 -6.5 -7.2

Gasoline (all types)

 355.086 357.988 331.966 36.3 -6.5 -7.3

Gasoline, unleaded regular (3)

 359.662 362.087 334.106 36.3 -7.1 -7.7

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (3) (4)

 342.761 346.605 324.533 37.0 -5.3 -6.4

Gasoline, unleaded premium (3)

 324.940 328.584 308.249 35.6 -5.1 -6.2

Medical care

 417.316 - 418.465 3.9 0.3 -

Recreation (5)

 122.995 - 122.572 3.9 -0.3 -

Education and communication (5)

 123.576 - 125.390 3.2 1.5 -

Other goods and services

 385.145 - 389.079 1.7 1.0 -
Commodity and service group            

Commodities

 178.434 - 176.140 7.0 -1.3 -

Commodities less food and beverages

 161.736 - 158.227 9.2 -2.2 -

Nondurables less food and beverages

 205.954 - 199.962 14.3 -2.9 -

Durables

 113.196 - 112.332 0.8 -0.8 -

Services

 280.477 - 282.554 2.8 0.7 -
Special aggregate indexes            

All items less medical care

 220.188 - 220.084 4.4 0.0 -

All items less shelter

 214.421 - 213.908 6.2 -0.2 -

Commodities less food

 163.451 - 160.068 8.9 -2.1 -

Nondurables

 207.000 - 204.027 9.0 -1.4 -

Nondurables less food

 205.774 - 200.173 13.5 -2.7 -

Services less rent of shelter (2)

 291.999 - 295.672 5.0 1.3 -

Services less medical care services

 269.157 - 271.224 2.8 0.8 -

Energy

 268.707 271.192 260.773 22.7 -3.0 -3.8

All items less energy

 225.002 - 225.880 2.3 0.4 -

All items less food and energy

 231.181 - 232.104 2.1 0.4 -

Footnotes
1 This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator.
2 Indexes on a December 1982=100 base.
3 Special index based on a substantially smaller sample.
4 Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.
5 Indexes on a December 1997=100 base.
- Data not available.
NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.

 

Last Modified Date: September 16, 2008