Question

Find the current CPI-U (Feb 2018, All Items), www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t01.htm

Answer 1

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services. The CPI reflects spending patterns for each of two population groups: all urban consumers and Urban wage earners and clerical workers. The all urban consumer group represents about 93 percent of the total U.S. population. It is based on the expenditures of almost all residents of urban or metropolitan
areas, including professionals, the self-employed, the poor, the unemployed, and retired people, as well as urban wage earners and clerical workers.The CPIs are based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, fuels, transportation, doctor's and dentist's services, drugs, and other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living.

Consumer inflation for all urban consumers is measured by two indexes, namely, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U).

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 2.2 percent over the last 12 months to an index level of 248.991 (1982-84=100). For the month, the index increased 0.5 percent prior to seasonal adjustment.

It increased 0.2 percent in February on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.5 percent in January.