U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Mid-Atlantic Information Office

Consumer Price Index, South Region – May 2011 (PDF)

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South rose 0.5 percent in May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that prices advanced for energy, food, and all items less food and energy. Within the all items less food and energy group, new and used motor vehicles, medical care, 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 advanced 4.0 percent. The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.7 percent over the year. (See chart 1.)

Food

Food prices rose 0.5 percent in May. Within the food index, prices for food at home increased 0.7 percent and prices for food away from home inched up 0.1 percent over the month.

Over the year, the index for food advanced 3.7 percent as prices for food at home and food away from home increased 5.1 and 1.9 percent, respectively.

Energy

Energy prices advanced 2.5 percent in May, led by a 3.0-percent rise in motor fuel prices. The index for electricity increased 1.7 percent and that for utility (piped) gas service rose 1.6 percent over the month.

Over the year, the energy index advanced 21.9 percent, reflecting a 37.2-percent jump in motor fuel prices. Electricity prices rose 1.9 percent during the same period, while prices for utility (piped) gas service declined 2.7 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy inched up 0.1 percent in May. Among the components of the index, prices for new and used motor vehicles increased 1.0 percent, those for medical care edged up 0.3 percent, and apparel prices advanced 0.4 percent.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 1.7 percent, due largely to higher prices for shelter (1.3 percent) and medical care (2.7 percent).

The Consumer Price Index for June 2011 is scheduled to be released on Friday, July 15, 2011 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 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 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.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; TDD message referral phone number: (800) 877-8339.

For personal assistance or further information on Consumer Price Indexes, as well as other Bureau products, contact the Mid-Atlantic Information Office at (215) 597-3282 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET.

Last Modified Date: June 16, 2011

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