When is consumer price index reported

Current job openings:. Inflation Rate. Inflation Rate Mom. Core Inflation Rate. Core Consumer Prices. GDP Deflator. Producer Prices. Producer Prices Change. Food Inflation. There is no single best measure of inflation. Ideally, such an indicator would be comprehensive and cover price changes for all goods and services traded in the economy.

However, different measures of price change are suited to analysing different parts of the economy, so the best approach depends on how the data is going to be used. The ABS produces a range of price indexes, suited to different parts of the economy.

For example: the Consumer Price Index CPI is the most comprehensive measure of goods and services price inflation faced by all consumer households; the Selected Living Cost Indexes SLCIs are designed to measure changes in living costs for selected population sub-groups. They are particularly suited for assessing whether or not the disposable incomes of households have kept pace with price changes. The Australian CPI is measured on an acquisitions approach. This approach is considered to be the most suitable approach when the primary purpose of the CPI is as a macro-economic indicator of price inflation affecting households.

For more information about direct and derived measures of price change, refer to Consumer Price Index: Concepts, Sources and Methods cat.

The CPI frequently is called a cost of living index, but it differs in important ways from a complete cost-of-living measure. Both the CPI and a cost of living index measure the changes in prices of goods and services that are purchased by households.

The Australian CPI measures the changes in price of a fixed basket of goods and services whereas a cost of living index measures the change in the minimum expenditure needed to maintain a certain standard of living. In practice, no statistical agencies compile true cost of living or purchasing power measures as it is too difficult to do. A cost of living index requires access to both price and current household consumption each period, as well as an assessment of households' welfare which depends on a variety of physical and social factors that have no connection with prices.

As the CPI is intended to measure the overall inflation in prices of goods and services acquired by Australian households, it is used as a proxy measure of cost of living or purchasing power. The Australian CPI is an important economic indicator. It measures price changes facing households. It is compiled according to international standards, and is based on robust data collection and compilation methodologies. Prior to the September quarter , the CPI was compiled primarily to be used for income adjustment through wage indexation.

This had implications for the coverage and design of the index. It was limited to the expenditures made by households whose principal source of income was wages. It measured out-of-pocket living expenses, including mortgage interest payments. Since the September quarter , the principal purpose of the CPI has been to measure inflation faced by households to support macro-economic policy decision making.

The CPI covers the expenditures of all households not just those whose principal source of income is wages, as was the case before and measures the changes in the prices of a fixed basket of goods and services acquired each period.

In recognition of the interest in the extent to which the impact of price change varies across different groups in the community, in addition to the CPI, the ABS compiles Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia cat. The SLCIs measure out-of-pocket living expenses incurred by selected population sub-groups of Australian households.

The most notable difference between these indexes and the CPI is that the living cost indexes include interest charges but do not include new house purchases, while the CPI includes new house purchases but does not include interest charges.

The CPI is used for a variety of purposes. The ABS provides explanations of the principal purpose and the concepts, sources and methods used in compiling the CPI and other indexes. Based on this information, it is up to users to determine which index is the best to use. The ABS neither endorses nor discourages these choices. As a single index cannot be expected to adequately fulfil all purposes, and in recognition of the widespread interest in the extent to which the impact of price change varies across different groups in the community, the ABS compiles and publishes Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia cat.

The employee households living cost index is calculated on a similar basis as the CPI prior to the September quarter The SLCIs are constructed using the "Outlays method" which measures changes in the prices of goods or services for which payments were made to gain access to goods and services i.

It is therefore concerned with measuring the impact of changes in prices on the out-of-pocket expenses incurred by households to gain access to consumer goods and services. In contrast, the CPI uses the "Acquisitions method" which measures changes in the prices of goods and services acquired actually received.

As such, it is designed to measure price inflation for the household sector as a whole. In practice, for most goods and services purchased by the reference population, outlays and acquisitions occur within a relatively short space of time, leading to no difference in methodology. However, there are three areas of expenditure in which these conceptual approaches provide significantly different results: purchase of dwellings, purchase of durable items and financial services and the use of credit.

The most notable differences caused by this are that living cost indexes include interest charges but do not include new house purchases, while the CPI includes new house purchases but does not include interest charges. Households have been categorised based on the principal source of household income, derived from the Household Expenditure Survey HES. The four household types that have been identified as being appropriate for the construction of these indexes, are: Employee households i.

The Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index PBLCI was introduced in the June quarter and is a measure of the effect of changes in prices on the out-of-pocket living expenses experienced by the following two groups of households in the Australian population: Age pensioner households, and Other government transfer recipient households.

For the latest statistics on living cost indexes, refer to the product Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia cat. The HES collects detailed information about the expenditure, income, assets, liabilities and household characteristics from a sample of just under 8, households resident in private dwellings in the eight capital cities. In addition to the HES, market expenditure and sales data is routinely monitored and applied to ensure the price samples continue to be representative below the published level of data.

The basket contains representative items actually acquired by households. The actual items priced for the CPI basket are determined based on a number of factors. Items: must be representative of purchases made by the CPI population group; must be identifiable and specific commodities or services e. For practical reasons, the basket cannot include every item bought by households, but those it does include are carefully selected to represent the range of goods and services actually acquired by households.

Selection is made only after obtaining detailed information about the buying habits of households, such as varieties and brands. The items selected should be representative, so that the index will reflect the price changes for a much wider range of goods and services than is actually priced.

While they have conceded that inflation has been more persistent than they expected, they see conditions returning to normal over the next year or so. Stock market futures fell following the report and bond yields rose. Escalating inflation could cause the Fed to tighten policy more quickly than it has signaled. The central bank has indicated that it will within the next few weeks start reducing the amount of bonds it buys each month, though officials have indicated that interest rate hikes are still off in the future.

The Fed has indicated a narrow likelihood of just one increase ahead, though St. A separate report Wednesday showed that initial claims for jobless benefits edged lower to ,, a fresh pandemic-era low after declining 4, from the previous week. That was below the Dow Jones estimate for , Continuing claims, which run a week behind, increased by 59, to 2. The latter number was at Correction: Annual core inflation ran at a 4.

An earlier version misstated the month and year.