Related BLS programs | Related articles
Consumer inflation higher in 2000
Todd Wilson
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for All Items for the U.S. city average increased 3.4 percent in 2000, up from a 2.7-percent rise during 1999.1 The acceleration mainly reflects increases in charges for shelter, energy (household fuels and motor fuel), and medical care services. Shelter costs also rose more in 2000 than in 1999; within the shelter component (which represents about 30 percent of the CPI), increases in the indexes for rent of primary residence and owners’ equivalent rent of primary residence each accelerated. Energy prices continued to rise. Within the energy component (which represents 7 percent of the CPI), double-digit increases were reported for natural gas, fuel oil, and gasoline. Medical care service charges (which represent about 5 percent of the CPI), also accelerated.
Higher increases in charges for services and energy commodities were partially offset by stable prices for commodities excluding food and energy, which increased a modest 0.6 percent last year. Prices decreased for many commodities, including computers, household appliances, new trucks, and clothing. Commodities generally are subject to greater global competition than are services and, in recent years, have tended to have lower price increases, compared with services.
This excerpt is from an article published in the April 2001 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.
Read abstract Download full article in PDF (50K)
Footnotes
1 Annual percent changes are calculated from December to December.
Related Monthly Labor Review articles
Consumer
inflation remains modest in 1998 — Apr.
1999.
Consumer
inflation in 1997 at 11-year low.—May
1998.
Consumer prices
for energy and food accelerated in 1996.—Apr.
1997.
Consumer prices
in 1995.—June
1996.
Consumer prices
in 1994.—June
1995.
Growth rate slows
down in consumer prices, 1993.—May
1994.
Energy, food
prices helped slow inflation in 1991.—May
1992.
Consumer price
slows in first half of 1991.—Oct.
1991.
Consumer prices
rise sharply in 1990.—May
1991.
Consumer
prices in the 1980's.—Aug.
1990.
Within Monthly Labor Review Online:
Welcome | Current
Issue | Index | Subscribe
| Archives
Exit Monthly Labor Review Online:
BLS Home | Publications & Research
Papers