Jan 15, 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their December 2009 report of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the Midwest.
The BLS defines the Midwest region as the 12 states of “Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.”
At the national level on a seasonally adjusted basis, the average urban consumer experienced a 0.1% increase in prices based on the CPI. The entire CPI index or “all items” of the Midwest region decreased by 0.3%. BLS Regional Commissioner Jay A. Mousa stated that 75% of the December decrease was due to apparel, transportation and housing components of the CPI.
Of the three CPI components mentioned above, apparel played the largest part as it decreased by 3.0% due mostly to “discounting of fall-winter wear” as reported by the BLS.
Transportation decreased by 0.6%, mostly due to fuel costs falling by 2.6%. The housing component for the Midwest region fell by 0.3%.
The 2009 CPI for the Midwest region of 3.0% was moderately higher than the national average of the 2.7% increase. Motor fuel for the Midwest region increased by 52.5% versus the 50.7% increase at the national level. December 2008 saw the lowest fuel prices after the July 2008 peak of energy prices, thus accounting for the large year over year increase.
When examined in more depth the CPI of the Chicago-Gary-Kenosha metropolitan urban area fell by -0.5% for Dec and increased by 2.5% for 2009. In 2008 and 2007 the CPI for this area declined by 0.6% and increased by 4.7% respectively.
Did you enjoy this article? To receive new articles for this column click the "Subscribe" button above.
Comments