January 15, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Annual consumer price rise smallest
since 1986
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers (CPI-U) rose 1.6 percent from December 1997 to December 1998, after advancing
1.7 percent in 1997. This was the smallest increase reported since a 1.1 percent rise in
1986. The CPI-U measures retail price changes for goods and services purchased by
consumers in metropolitan areas.
[Chart data—TXT]
The moderate increase in 1998 was largely due to falling energy prices.
The energy index declined 8.8 percent in 1998, again the largest drop since 1986. Energy
commodities, including gasoline, fell 15.1 percent, and charges for energy services
decreased 3.3 percent.
The "core" CPI-U, consumer prices excluding food and energy, rose 2.4 percent
in 1998, compared with a 2.2 percent increase in 1997. Sharply higher tobacco prices
caused the increase in the core rate.
These data are produced by the BLS Consumer
Price Index program. More information can be obtained in news release
USDL 99-11, "Consumer
Price Indexes, December 1998." Annual comparisons are based on
changes in indexes from December 1997 to December 1998.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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Read more »