What is the consumer price index report?

Answer 1

A consumer price index (CPI) measures changes in the price level of consumer goods and services. It is a a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. The CPI is a statistical estimate constructed using the prices of a sample of representative items whose prices are collected periodically.

Changes in the CPI can reflect inflation by indicating the change in the same basket of good year over year.
Federal government measure of the cost of living, also called the cost-of-living index. The Consumer Price Index is used as an economic indicator, measuring the rate of inflation by monitoring monthly and yearly price changes for major groups of consumer expenditures (e.g., food and beverages, housing, apparel, transportation, medical services, recreation, education, communication). Changes are also reported for individual items within those groups. The CPI is broken out by all U.S. Consumers, all urban consumers, and some local areas. The CPI is also broken out by hourly paid urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W) versus other urban consumers (CPI-U). The CPI is expressed as a measurement against a base period. In 1999, the base period was 1982-1984. The price index for all items sold in the base period is 100 and the CPI at the start of 1999 was 163.9. For example, if a family's average expenses for apparel were $100 in 1984, they would have to spend $163.90 in 1999 to get the equivalent value in goods. Many union contracts require wage increases according to increases in the CPI.
A consumer price index (CPI) is a measure estimating the average price of consumer goods and services purchased by households. A consumer price index measures a price change for a constant market basket of goods and services from one period to the next within the same area (city, region, or nation).

It is a price index determined by measuring the price of a standard group of goods meant to represent the typical market basket of a typical urban consumer.Related, but different, terms are the United Kingdom's CPI, RPI, and RPIX. It is one of several price indices calculated by most national statistical agencies.

The percent change in the CPI is a measure estimating inflation. The CPI can be used to index (i.e., adjust for the effect of inflation on the real value of money: the medium of exchange) wages, salaries, pensions, and regulated or contracted prices. The CPI is, along with the population census and the National Income and Product Accounts, one of the most closely watched national economic statistics.
The consumer price index is a way of tracking the change in prices of goods that urban consumers are paying over time.