Consumer Price Index, New York-Northern New Jersey – December 2012

Area prices down 0.3 percent over the month and up 2.1 percent over the year

Prices in the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), dropped 0.3 percent in December after no change in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli attributed the December decline to falling energy and food prices. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the year, the CPI-U advanced 2.1 percent. (See chart 1. and table A. ) The over-the-year increase was primarily due to higher prices for shelter. Food, gasoline, and medical care also contributed to the rise. The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.0 percent.

Food

The food index edged down 0.2 percent, following increases of 0.5 percent in November and 0.2 percent in October. The downturn was primarily attributable to a 0.3-percent decline in food away from home, the largest drop recorded since December 2004. Prices for food at home dipped 0.1 percent, with lower prices reported for bacon, cheese, apples, snacks, and ice cream.

For the year ended in December 2012, the food index increased 1.9 percent. Prices for food away from home rose 2.2 percent, and prices for food at home, 1.7 percent. (See table 1.)

Energy

The energy index fell 2.9 percent, after edging down 0.2 percent in November. Gasoline prices dropped 4.9 percent, following a 2.5-percent reduction in November. Household energy prices also declined (-0.9 percent), after rising 2.1 percent. The turnaround was largely due to electricity charges, which were 3.0 percent lower, after a 1.5-percent rise in November. In contrast, natural gas posted its third consecutive increase, 2.3 percent.

From December 2011 to December 2012, energy prices rose 3.6 percent. Gasoline prices increased 7.0 percent, and household energy prices rose 0.7 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy registered the third consecutive month of little or no change. Apparel, with seasonal sales, declined 1.8 percent. Recreation, another category often down in December, decreased 0.4 percent, reflecting price reductions for audio equipment, sports equipment, toys, and photographic equipment. Education and communication recorded a 0.2-percent decline, with lower prices for personal computers and delivery services. Medical care also edged down in December. Offsetting these declines, shelter rose 0.2 percent for the third straight month, and other goods and services also edged up, 0.2 percent.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 2.0 percent. Medical care prices rose 3.8 percent, and shelter prices, 2.4 percent. Apparel, recreation, and other goods and services recorded increases between 1.5 and 1.9 percent.

CPI-W

In December, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) was 249.535, down 0.4 percent over the month. The CPI-W increased 2.0 percent over the year.

The January 2013 Consumer Price Index for New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island is scheduled to be released on Thursday, February 21, 2013 at 8:30 a.m. (EST).

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 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 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 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Conn.-Pa. consolidated area covered in this release is comprised of Bronx, Dutchess, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties in New York State; Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren Counties in New Jersey; Fairfield County and parts of Litchfield, Middlesex, and New Haven Counties in Connecticut; and Pike County in Pennsylvania.

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.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods, New York-Northern N.J.-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted) (not seasonally adjusted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Oct. 2012	Nov. 2012	Dec. 2012	Dec. 2011	Oct. 2012	Nov. 2012
Expenditure category
All items	254.277	254.285	253.555	2.1	-0.3	-0.3
All items (1967=100)	735.080	735.102	732.992
Food and beverages	244.664	245.804	245.398	1.8	0.3	-0.2
Food	244.124	245.447	245.044	1.9	0.4	-0.2
Food at home	243.651	245.918	245.793	1.7	0.9	-0.1
Food away from home	251.262	251.385	250.607	2.2	-0.3	-0.3
Alcoholic beverages	248.452	247.018	246.561	1.0	-0.8	-0.2
Housing	265.971	266.862	267.015	2.1	0.4	0.1
Shelter	325.920	326.465	327.068	2.4	0.4	0.2
Rent of primary residence (1)	331.459	331.472	332.255	2.6	0.2	0.2
Owners' equivalent rent of residences (1) (2)	333.107	333.537	334.387	2.1	0.4	0.3
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence (1) (2)	332.931	333.356	334.204	2.1	0.4	0.3
Fuels and utilities	195.984	199.513	197.871	1.0	1.0	-0.8
Household energy	191.714	195.671	193.851	0.7	1.1	-0.9
Energy services (1)	173.670	178.249	176.034	-0.1	1.4	-1.2
Electricity (1)	176.088	178.702	173.424	-0.3	-1.5	-3.0
Utility (piped) gas service (1)	163.547	171.892	175.836	0.1	7.5	2.3
Household furnishings and operations	121.219	121.313	121.245	-0.2	0.0	-0.1
Apparel	127.798	124.685	122.501	1.9	-4.1	-1.8
Transportation	231.761	230.283	227.652	2.9	-1.8	-1.1
Private transportation	220.964	218.921	216.153	2.7	-2.2	-1.3
Motor fuel	306.696	299.131	284.817	6.9	-7.1	-4.8
Gasoline (all types)	305.757	298.036	283.474	7.0	-7.3	-4.9
Gasoline, unleaded regular (3)	309.072	300.564	285.379	6.8	-7.7	-5.1
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (3) (4)	307.346	301.433	288.152	7.8	-6.2	-4.4
Gasoline, unleaded premium (3)	299.865	294.184	281.033	7.7	-6.3	-4.5
Medical care	413.925	415.741	414.838	3.8	0.2	-0.2
Recreation (5)	118.718	118.728	118.217	1.5	-0.4	-0.4
Education and communication (5)	140.314	139.747	139.440	0.9	-0.6	-0.2
Other goods and services	394.396	392.824	393.652	1.6	-0.2	0.2
Commodity and service group
All items	254.277	254.285	253.555	2.1	-0.3	-0.3
Commodities	195.641	194.840	192.935	1.6	-1.4	-1.0
Commodities less food and beverages	162.300	160.594	158.053	1.5	-2.6	-1.6
Nondurables less food and beverages	208.787	205.872	201.169	2.8	-3.6	-2.3
Durables	103.515	103.228	103.201	-1.3	-0.3	0.0
Services	304.573	305.271	305.543	2.4	0.3	0.1
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	247.175	247.119	246.399	2.0	-0.3	-0.3
All items less shelter	226.322	226.118	224.862	1.9	-0.6	-0.6
Commodities less food	165.903	164.197	161.708	1.5	-2.5	-1.5
Nondurables	229.353	228.348	225.643	2.3	-1.6	-1.2
Nondurables less food	211.558	208.720	204.248	2.7	-3.5	-2.1
Services less rent of shelter (2)	291.731	292.626	292.718	2.3	0.3	0.0
Services less medical care services	295.653	296.312	296.580	2.3	0.3	0.1
Energy	238.804	238.219	231.426	3.6	-3.1	-2.9
All items less energy	257.578	257.644	257.508	2.0	0.0	-0.1
All items less food and energy	261.651	261.476	261.391	2.0	-0.1	0.0
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) Index is 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.
NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. The New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA consolidated area comprises the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Orange Counties in New York State; Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Monmouth, Middlesex, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren Counties in New Jersey; Fairfield County and parts of Litchfield, New Haven, and Middlesex Counties in Connecticut; and Pike County in Pennsylvania.