Variance Estimates for the Producer Price Index
Measures of uncertainty caused by using a sample to calculate PPI data
About PPI Variance Estimates
Beginning in 2016, and moving forward on an annual basis, the Producer Price Index (PPI) program will publish variance estimates based on final index calculations for the previous calendar year. The release of PPI variance estimates for 2015 includes data describing PPIs for selected high-level indexes from the Final Demand–Intermediate Demand (FD–ID) Aggregation System. The FD–ID system represents the primary method by which producer inflation is analyzed at the aggregated level.
The annual PPI publication of variance statistics includes the median absolute value of the percent change as the reference statistic and the corresponding median standard error as the measure of variance. Both statistics are based on 1-month and 12-month percent changes for the calendar year. The standard error (SE), the square root of the variance estimate, is a commonly used measure of sampling variability. The SE estimates the sample distribution, or spread of the sample estimates, for comparison with the true population value. The SE is used to calculate a confidence interval around the sample percent change.
For further information, contact the PPI Section of Index Analysis and Public Information, at ppi-info@bls.gov or (202) 691-7705.
PPI Variance Estimation Methodology
- Variance estimates for price changes in the Producer Price Index (HTML) (PDF)
Current Year Summary and Tables of PPI Variance Estimates
- Annual summary (HTML) (PDF)
- Table 1. Variance estimates for selected PPI Final Demand-Intermediate Demand indexes (XLSX) (PDF)
- Compiled annual variance report, including summary text, tables, and methodology (PDF)
(How to View PDF Files)
Last Modified Date: July 27, 2016
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