Consumer Price Index, South Region–August 2010 (PDF)

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South edged up 0.2 percent in August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Sheila Watkins attributed the monthly increase to advances in the indexes for food (0.2 percent), energy (0.3 percent), and all items less food and energy (0.1 percent). Within this last group, education and communication and apparel were among those indexes that recorded increases. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U rose 1.1 percent. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.0 percent over the year. (See chart 1.)

Chart 1. 12-month percent change in CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), South region, August 2007 - August 2010

Food

Food prices edged up 0.2 percent in August following a 0.2-percent decline in the previous month. Within the food index, prices for food at home rose 0.2 percent and those for food away from home increased 0.1 percent.

Over the year, the index for food increased 0.9 percent as prices for food away from home and food at home advanced, up 1.1 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

Energy

The energy index rose 0.3 percent in August after falling 0.3 percent in July. Within the energy index, prices for motor fuel and electricity increased 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. Moderating the advance in the overall energy index were lower prices for utility (piped) gas service, down 1.4 percent in August.

Over the year, the energy index rose 2.7 percent as higher prices for motor fuel (4.6 percent) and utility (piped) gas service (5.9 percent) more than offset lower electricity prices (-0.5 percent).

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy inched up 0.1 percent in August. Among the components of the index, education and communication increased 0.8 percent and apparel prices recorded an advance of 1.2 percent over the month.  

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 1.0 percent. Higher costs for used cars and trucks (15.0 percent) and medical care (3.0 percent) contributed to the increase.

The Consumer Price Index for September 2010 is scheduled to be released on Friday, October 15, 2010 at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

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 87 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 32 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 25,000 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 the 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 and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available 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 South region is comprised of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

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