What is the C-CPI-U and when did the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) begin publishing it?
BLS began publishing the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers effective with the release of July 2002 CPI data. Designated the C-CPI-U, the index supplements the existing indexes already produced by the BLS: the CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and the CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). The C-CPI-U employs a formula that reflects the effect of substitution that consumers make across item categories in response to changes in relative prices. C-CPI-U data can be found on the BLS web site at http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?su.
