June 15, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Prices for services decelerate, but not shelter prices

The inflation rate for consumer services has drifted downward since 1993. While prices of services rose by 3.8 percent in 1993, they increased by only 2.6 percent in 1998. In fact, the inflation rate for services dropped in four of the past five years.

[Chart data—TXT]

However, the biggest component of services—shelter—has not shared in this downward trend. Shelter prices rose by more in 1998 (3.3 percent) than in 1993 (3.0 percent). Between 1993 and 1998, the shelter rate of inflation has stayed in a narrow range between 2.9 and 3.5 percent.

These data are produced by the BLS Consumer Price Index program. More information on consumer price changes can be found in "Consumer inflation remains modest in 1998," Monthly Labor Review, April 1999. Annual percent changes are December-to-December changes.