BOSTON – The Consumer Price Index was essentially unchanged in the Northeast over the last 12 months, rising 1.1 percent to 244.98, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.
The Northeast region includes the six New England states as well as New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
Nationally from August 2011 through July, the index for all items, including the volatile food and energy prices, increased 1.4 percent before seasonal adjustment.
Regionally, the energy index fell 6.1 percent in July, the third consecutive month of year-over-year declines. The BLS attributed the most recent decline to lower prices for electricity and gasoline, which decreased 1.6 percent and 0.8 percent across the region, respectively, in the latest one-month period.
Comparatively, the national energy index fell 5 percent to 239.97.
The housing index in the Northeast posted a 0.7 percent increase in July, while the index for transportation dropped 0.8 percent.
