The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City area edged down 0.2 percent from April to June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the recent decrease was due to a decline  in the energy index, down 6.3 percent. The all items less food and energy index and the food index rose since April, up 0.6 percent each. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, two-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U increased 1.3 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The all items less food and energy index advanced 2.0 percent since June 2011. The food index also increased, up 1.9 percent over the year, while the energy index declined, down 5.2 percent. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices increased 0.6 percent from April to June. Prices for both food at home and food away from home rose since April, up 0.8 and 0.4 percent, respectively. Within the food at home component, higher prices for various items including citrus fruits and ham were moderated by lower prices for chicken and ice cream and related products, among others.

Over the year, the food index advanced 1.9 percent. Both components of the food index had price increases over the last 12 months—prices for food at home rose 1.7 percent and those for food away from home, 2.2 percent.

Energy

The energy index, which includes prices for household and transportation fuels, fell 6.3 percent from April to June. The recent decline was due almost entirely to an 11.2-percent drop in gasoline prices—the largest two-month decrease in three and a half years. Utility (piped) gas service prices also declined, down 1.9 percent since April. Moderating the recent decline in the energy index was a seasonal increase of 2.3 percent in electricity prices, which typically rise in June as summer rate schedules are introduced, then fall in October.

The energy index fell 5.2 percent since last June, due in part to a 6.6-percent decline in gasoline prices. These were the largest 12-month price decreases since October 2009 for both the energy index and its gasoline component. The utility (piped) gas service component—which has recorded uninterrupted 12-month declines for over three years—also posted lower prices over the last 12 months, down 7.0 percent. Prices for electricity inched up 0.1 percent over the year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.6 percent from April to June. The two-month rise was due largely to higher prices for shelter (0.9 percent), particularly those for lodging away from home. Moderating the overall rise were bimonthly decreases in apparel and recreation prices, down 1.8 and 0.7 percent, respectively.

Since last June, the index for all items less food and energy increased 2.0 percent, due in part to higher prices for shelter (2.2 percent), particularly owners’ equivalent rent of residences (2.4 percent). Price increases were widespread among the other components of the all items less food and energy group including other goods and services (6.6 percent) and apparel (6.4 percent). A 1.6-percent decline in education and communication prices moderated the advance in the all items less food and energy index since June 2011.

The August 2012 Consumer Price Index for Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City is scheduled to be released September 14, 2012, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Table A. Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City CPI-U 2-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index (not seasonally adjusted)

Month	2007		2008		2009		2010		2011		2012
	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month
February	0.7	2.0	0.9	3.7	1.0	-0.3	0.8	2.8	1.3	1.9	0.7	2.2
April	1.0	1.7	1.2	3.9	0.6	-0.9	0.4	2.6	1.0	2.5	0.8	2.0
June	0.9	1.6	2.1	5.1	1.0	-2.0	0.3	1.9	0.6	2.8	-0.2	1.3
August	0.7	1.1	0.0	4.4	1.0	-1.0	0.2	1.1	0.7	3.4
October	0.1	3.5	-1.4	2.8	-0.6	-0.1	0.0	1.7	-0.3	3.0
December	0.0	3.5	-3.1	-0.4	0.0	3.0	-0.2	1.4	-0.5	2.8

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes CPIs for two population groups: (1) a CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) which covers approximately 88 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 29 percent of the total population. The CPI-U includes, in addition to wage earners and clerical workers, groups such as professional, managerial, and technical workers, the self-employed, short-term workers, the unemployed, and retirees and others not in the labor force.

The CPI is based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and the other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. Each month, prices are collected in 87 urban areas across the country from about 4,000 housing units and approximately 26,000 retail establishments—department stores, supermarkets, hospitals, filling stations, and other types of stores and service establishments. All taxes directly associated with the purchase and use of items are included in the index.

The index measures price changes from a designated reference date (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/homch17_a.htm.

In calculating the index, price changes for the various items in each location are averaged together with weights that represent their importance in the spending of the appropriate population group. Local data are then combined to obtain a U.S. city average. Because the sample size of a local area is smaller, the local area index is subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error than the national index. In addition, local indexes are not adjusted for seasonal influences. As a result, local area indexes show greater volatility than the national index, although their long-term trends are quite similar. NOTE: Area indexes do not measure differences in the level of prices between cities; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md., Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA), includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem Counties in New Jersey; New Castle County in Delaware; and Cecil County in Maryland.

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Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods, Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Expenditure category	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Apr. 2012	May 2012	June 2012	June 2011	Apr. 2012	May 2012
All items	237.782	-	237.405	1.3	-0.2	-
Food and beverages	218.974	-	220.402	1.9	0.7	-
Food	218.642	-	220.055	1.9	0.6	-
Food at home	230.528	230.399	232.369	1.7	0.8	0.9
Food away from home	197.422	-	198.241	2.2	0.4	-
Alcoholic beverages	220.862	-	222.470	2.5	0.7	-
Housing	241.358	-	242.733	1.7	0.6	-
Shelter	289.574	291.776	292.197	2.2	0.9	0.1
Rent of primary residence (1)	267.613	267.667	268.129	2.9	0.2	0.2
Owners' equivalent rent of residences (1) (2)	299.048	298.864	298.391	2.4	-0.2	-0.2
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence (1) (2)	299.048	298.864	298.391	2.4	-0.2	-0.2
Fuels and utilities	218.525	-	216.522	-1.9	-0.9	-
Household energy	191.221	190.403	188.945	-2.9	-1.2	-0.8
Energy services (1)	195.411	195.734	197.536	-2.0	1.1	0.9
Electricity (1)	200.731	201.050	205.308	0.1	2.3	2.1
Utility (piped) gas service (1)	177.314	177.638	174.023	-7.0	-1.9	-2.0
Household furnishings and operations	123.481	-	123.380	2.2	-0.1	-
Apparel	112.203	-	110.155	6.4	-1.8	-
Transportation	223.210	-	214.891	-1.3	-3.7	-
Private transportation	221.269	-	212.288	-1.8	-4.1	-
Motor fuel	343.017	328.769	304.583	-6.7	-11.2	-7.4
Gasoline (all types)	338.598	324.501	300.529	-6.6	-11.2	-7.4
Gasoline, unleaded regular (3)	339.866	325.300	300.812	-6.8	-11.5	-7.5
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (3) (4)	327.735	315.525	293.051	-6.2	-10.6	-7.1
Gasoline, unleaded premium (3)	314.338	303.139	283.673	-5.4	-9.8	-6.4
Medical care	445.985	-	447.176	1.9	0.3	-
Recreation (5)	124.113	-	123.236	0.8	-0.7	-
Education and communication (5)	123.962	-	125.479	-1.6	1.2	-
Other goods and services	442.927	-	450.119	6.6	1.6	-
Commodity and service group
Commodities	185.698	-	181.886	0.4	-2.1	-
Commodities less food and beverages	164.640	-	158.753	-0.4	-3.6	-
Nondurables less food and beverages	208.647	-	198.388	-1.2	-4.9	-
Durables	114.934	-	114.369	0.8	-0.5	-
Services	292.808	-	295.323	1.7	0.9	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	228.902	-	228.475	1.2	-0.2	-
All items less shelter	222.107	-	220.445	0.7	-0.7	-
Commodities less food	166.881	-	161.168	-0.3	-3.4	-
Nondurables	216.692	-	211.431	0.2	-2.4	-
Nondurables less food	209.544	-	199.832	-1.0	-4.6	-
Services less rent of shelter (2)	302.736	-	305.138	1.2	0.8	-
Services less medical care services	280.471	-	282.976	1.7	0.9	-
Energy	247.134	241.362	231.521	-5.2	-6.3	-4.1
All items less energy	238.392	-	239.809	2.0	0.6	-
All items less food and energy	244.246	-	245.678	2.0	0.6	-
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) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base. (3) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (4) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base. (5) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. - Data not available. NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.