DOL GILS Record — Consumer Price Index (CPI) News Releases

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Title:

Consumer Price Index (CPI) News Releases

Originator:

• Department of Labor
• Office of the Secretary of Labor
• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Office of Prices and Living Conditions Division of Consumer Prices and Price Indexes

Access Constraints: None. Approved for Public Release

Use Constraints: Not to be used for place to place comparisons. Not to be used as a cost-of-living indicator.

Abstract: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices of goods and services paid by urban consumers for a fixed market basket of consumer goods and services from A to Z. The CPI provides a way for consumers to compare what the market basket of goods and services costs this month with what the same market basket cost a month or a year ago. The data from this program are released as index values and are published first in a news release available to the press and public around the end of the second week of the month.

Purpose: The CPI can be used as an economic indicator, as a deflator of other economic series, and as a means of adjusting dollar values. As an economic indicator, the CPI is the most widely used measure of inflation and is sometimes used as amn indicator of the effectiveness of government policy. As an deflator of other economic series, the CPI and its components are used to adjust other economic series for price changes and to translate these series into inflation-free dollars. As a means of adjusting dollar values, the CPI is often used to adjust consumers' income payments, for example, Social Security; to adjust income eligibility levels for government assistance; and to automatically provide cost-of-living wage adjustments to millions of American workers.

Agency Program: The authorizing statutes for the CPI include 29 U.S.C. 1, 2; 19 U.S.C.2393.

Local Subject Terms:

• CPI
• price
• statistics
• BLS
• US Federal GILS

Time Period of Content: Monthly data released during the month following the reference month.

Availability

Distributor Name: Division of Information Services
Distributor Organization: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Distributor Street Address: 2 Massachusetts Ave, N.E. Room 2860
Distributor City: Washington
Distributor State: DC
Distributor Zip Code: 20212
Distributor Country: USA
Distributor Network Address: ftp://stats.bls.gov/pub/news.release/cpi.txt
Distributor Telephone: (202) 606-5886
Distributor Fax: (202) 606-7890
Distributor Order Process: Write, call, fax, or e-mail.
Technical Prerequisites: Internet Access

Point of Contact

(For further information)

ContactName: Division of Information Services
Contact Organization: Bureau of Labor Statistics
ContactStreetAddress: 2 Massachusetts Ave, N.E. Room 2860
Contact City: Washington
Contact State: DC
Contact Zip Code: 20212
Contact Country: USA
Contact Network Address: ftp://stats.bls.gov/pub/news.release/cpi.txt
Contact Telephone: (202) 606-5886
Contact Fax: (202) 606-7890

Sources of Data: Office of the Secretary of Labor : Bureau of Labor Statistics : Office of Prices and Living Conditions Division of Consumer Prices and Price Indexes

Record Source: Division of Information Services : Bureau of Labor Statistics

Date of Last Modification: Fri Mar 1 15:48:05 EST 1996

Supplemental Information

Schedule Number: Pending

Control Identifier: DOL-_sec-000012