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.
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 »
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