How are PPI data collected?
When an establishment is selected to participate in the PPI survey, it is visited by a field economist who solicits the firm’s voluntary cooperation and informs the firm of the strict confidentiality rules that will safeguard the information being requested. Once cooperation is obtained, the field economist uses the disaggregation technique (see question 8) to select the specific goods or services for which prices will be reported. From this point forward, the establishment reports prices for the selected products, usually on a monthly basis, on a form provided by BLS. Establishments are asked to report their prices as of Tuesday of the week containing the 13th of the month. Each month approximately 100,000 prices are collected from 30,000 reporters. If the establishment fails to report or reports incomplete information, it is called by a BLS economist who requests the needed information. Nearly all establishments report prices through the mail. However, the use of electronic reporting
