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 PLS – 4459
FOR RELEASE:
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008
INFORMATION: Gerald Perrins
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Sheila Watkins
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Northeast Region Consumer Price Index: September 2008 (PDF)

Retail prices in the Northeast region, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), fell 0.4 percent in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the recent decline was the largest over-the-month decrease since October 2006.  Lower prices for housing and transportation led the way, while higher prices in the other six major categories moderated the overall decline.  The September level of 232.841 (1982-84=100) was 5.2 percent higher than a year ago.  Over the same period, the core inflation rate, as measured by the all items less food and energy index, rose 2.8 percent.  (See table 1.)

Chart A. 1-month and 12-month percent changes ended September 2008 for the major categories of the CPI-U for the Northeast region, not seasonally adjusted

Chart A. 1-month and 12-month percent changes ended September 2008 for the major categories of the CPI-U for the Northeast region, not seasonally adjusted
chart data

The housing index fell 1.3 percent in September—the largest decrease since one-month percent changes for this index were first published in January 1987—due largely to lower prices for fuels and utilities.  The fuels and utilities index was down 5.7 percent over the month as prices for both electricity (-6.0 percent) and utility (piped) gas service (-7.4 percent) declined.  Since September 2007, electricity and utility gas service prices increased 6.8 and 17.6 percent, respectively.  The fuels and utilities index rose 15.7 percent over the year.  The shelter index (which includes rent of primary residence, lodging away from home, owners’ equivalent rent of primary residence, and tenants’ and household insurance) also contributed to the recent decline in the overall housing index, falling 0.6 percent since August.  Over the last 12 months, the shelter index rose 2.3 percent.  Prices for household furnishings and operations, the third component of the housing index, were unchanged in September but were 0.8 percent higher than last year.  Since September 2007, the overall housing index advanced 3.9 percent.

The transportation index declined 1.7 percent over the month, dominated by lower gasoline prices, which fell 4.9 percent in September after decreasing 7.1 percent in August.  Despite the recent declines, gasoline prices were 31.3 percent higher than last year.  The transportation index advanced 10.3 percent over the last 12 months. 

The remaining categories had higher prices in September.  Following normal seasonal patterns, the apparel index jumped 7.2 percent from August to September.  The recent one-month increase was the largest since September 1988.  Over the year, apparel prices rose 2.6 percent.

The food and beverages index advanced 0.8 percent since August led by nearly equal rises in prices for food at home and food away from home.  The food at home index rose 0.9 percent in September and was 7.8 percent higher than last year.  The food away from home index increased 0.8 percent over the month and 4.6 percent over the year.  Prices for alcoholic beverages edged up 0.2 percent over the month to a level 4.7 percent higher than a year ago.  The overall food and beverages index advanced 6.2 percent over the last 12 months—the largest 12-month advance since March 1990.

The education and communication index rose 0.6 percent in September and was 4.8 percent higher than a year ago.

Recreation prices inched up 0.1 percent in September to a level 2.5 percent higher than last year. 

The other goods and services index edged up 0.2 percent since August.  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 4.9 percent higher.

Medical care prices inched up 0.1 percent in September, due entirely to a 0.3-percent increase in prices for medical care commodities.  Prices for medical care services were unchanged over the month.  Since last September, prices rose 3.2 percent for both of these components.  Medical care prices also rose 3.2 percent over the last 12 months.

The energy index, which reflects prices for gasoline and household fuels, fell 5.7 percent in September, reflecting lower prices for gasoline (-4.9 percent), electricity (-6.0 percent), and utility (piped) gas service (-7.4 percent).  Due to 8 increases in the last 12 months, the energy index was 23.5 percent higher than its year-ago level.

The Northeast region is comprised of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

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)
Expenditure category Indexes Percent change from-
July 2008 Aug. 2008 Sep. 2008 Sep. 2007 July 2008 Aug. 2008

All items

 234.545 233.788 232.841 5.2 -0.7 -0.4

Food and beverages

 219.381 220.693 222.510 6.2 1.4 0.8

Food

 219.022 220.373 222.287 6.4 1.5 0.9

Food at home

 219.811 221.916 223.897 7.8 1.9 0.9

Food away from home

 221.073 221.490 223.347 4.6 1.0 0.8

Alcoholic beverages

 222.971 223.754 224.228 4.7 0.6 0.2

Housing

 248.478 247.506 244.361 3.9 -1.7 -1.3

Shelter

 289.487 288.753 287.076 2.3 -0.8 -0.6

Rent of primary residence (1)

 275.313 276.510 276.956 4.1 0.6 0.2

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

 293.833 294.241 294.573 1.7 0.3 0.1

Fuels and utilities

 255.437 251.685 237.234 15.7 -7.1 -5.7

Household energy

 244.871 240.427 224.987 16.8 -8.1 -6.4

Gas (piped) and electricity (1)

 231.272 231.892 216.936 10.6 -6.2 -6.4

Electricity (1)

 203.777 209.483 197.014 6.8 -3.3 -6.0

Utility (piped) gas service (1)

 284.371 272.050 251.863 17.6 -11.4 -7.4

Household furnishings and operations

 128.437 128.708 128.767 0.8 0.3 0.0

Apparel

 111.732 115.467 123.837 2.6 10.8 7.2

Transportation

 209.419 203.979 200.550 10.3 -4.2 -1.7

Private transportation

 203.358 197.550 194.266 10.3 -4.5 -1.7

New and used motor vehicles (3)

 93.137 92.342 92.466 0.0 -0.7 0.1

New vehicles

 134.549 133.435 132.905 -0.7 -1.2 -0.4

New cars and trucks (3) (4)

 93.256 92.474 92.093 -0.9 -1.2 -0.4

New cars (4)

 133.794 132.564 132.657 -0.2 -0.8 0.1

Used cars and trucks

 140.913 140.617 138.085 -2.8 -2.0 -1.8

Motor fuel

 339.083 314.987 299.487 31.5 -11.7 -4.9

Gasoline (all types)

 336.470 312.446 297.278 31.3 -11.6 -4.9

Gasoline, unleaded regular (4)

 340.279 315.178 299.584 31.8 -12.0 -4.9

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (4) (5)

 339.074 316.706 301.735 30.7 -11.0 -4.7

Gasoline, unleaded premium (4)

 319.942 299.123 285.714 29.4 -10.7 -4.5

Medical care

 388.202 388.040 388.311 3.2 0.0 0.1

Medical care commodities

 319.574 318.709 319.816 3.2 0.1 0.3

Medical care services

 406.302 406.451 406.351 3.2 0.0 0.0

Professional services

 318.681 318.928 318.319 2.9 -0.1 -0.2

Recreation (3)

 115.904 116.027 116.159 2.5 0.2 0.1

Education and communication (3)

 126.702 128.371 129.150 4.8 1.9 0.6

Other goods and services

 373.338 373.378 374.085 4.9 0.2 0.2
Commodity and service group

Commodities

 185.942 184.282 184.296 7.4 -0.9 0.0

Commodities less food and beverages

 164.297 161.346 160.541 8.2 -2.3 -0.5

Nondurables less food and beverages

 213.027 207.674 206.859 14.3 -2.9 -0.4

Durables

 109.797 109.305 108.547 -1.4 -1.1 -0.7

Services

 282.128 282.261 280.369 3.7 -0.6 -0.7
Special aggregate indexes

All items less medical care

 227.481 226.709 225.727 5.3 -0.8 -0.4

All items less shelter

 216.295 215.519 214.843 6.7 -0.7 -0.3

Commodities less food

 166.727 163.876 163.107 8.1 -2.2 -0.5

Nondurables

 217.499 215.290 215.725 10.1 -0.8 0.2

Nondurables less food

 213.482 208.488 207.747 13.6 -2.7 -0.4

Services less rent of shelter (2)

 283.973 285.197 282.986 5.5 -0.3 -0.8

Services less medical care services

 272.946 273.077 271.115 3.8 -0.7 -0.7

Energy

 284.330 271.624 256.169 23.5 -9.9 -5.7

All items less energy

 231.345 231.869 232.476 3.3 0.5 0.3

All items less food and energy

 235.040 235.402 235.753 2.8 0.3 0.1

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) 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.
NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.

Last Modified Date: October 16, 2008