Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers – Gasoline vs. Air Fare (August 2017) For Immediate Release Summary ✓ The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers – Gasoline was 200.96 during August, using 1982 – 1984 = 100 as the seasonally adjusted index. • The August 2017 reading of 200.96 was ~10.4% higher than a year ago when the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers – Gasoline was 182.09. ✓ The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers – Air Fare was 270.65 during August, using 1982 – 1984 = 100 as the seasonally adjusted index. • The August 2017 reading of 270.65 was -3.2% lower than a year ago when the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers – Air Fare was 279.71 CPI Measure August 2017 August 2016 YoY % ∆ July 2017 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers – Gasoline 200.96 182.09 +10.4% 189.06 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers – Air Fare 270.65 279.71 -3.2% 273.32 1st Paragraph of Press Release: The Buraeu of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released its Consumer Price Index data for August of 2017. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Gasoline is a measure that tracks the average cost of gasoline (all types). The index measures price changes (as a percentage change) from a predetermined reference date. During August of 2017, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Gasoline was 200.96 when using 1982 – 1984 = 100 as the seasonally adjusted index. Also included in the monthly report was the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Air Fare which registered at 270.65 during the month, again using 1982 – 1984 = 100 as the seasonally adjusted index. Eligible for pricing are all regularly scheduled domestic and international commercial airline trips on certified carriers departing from each of the 87 cities in the CPI sample. For the selected cities that do not have a qualifying airport, the nearest city with a qualifying airport is designated as the city of departure. 2nd Paragraph of Press Release: The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Gasoline increased on a year-over-year basis by 10.4% during August, the ninth monthly year-over-year increase in the last 10 months. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Air Fare decreased on a year-over-year basis by 3.2% during August, which was the fifth monthly year-over-year decline seen in the last six months. 3rd Paragraph of Press Release: The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Gasoline is an important economic measure in that is a critical gauge of overall inflation in the economy. Given the percentage of consumer spending that is related to gasoline, understanding how prices move is of critical importance to the overall tracking of inflation. When prices are increasing a steady, but low-single digit pace, it is a signal of economic health as wages are likely rising at a similar rate. The Consumer Price Index for.

1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers – Gasoline vs.
Air Fare
(August 2017)
For Immediate Release
Summary
✓ The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers –
Gasoline was 200.96 during August, using 1982
– 1984 = 100 as the seasonally adjusted index.
• The August 2017 reading of 200.96 was ~10.4% higher than a
year ago when the Consumer
Price Index for All Urban Consumers – Gasoline was 182.09.
✓ The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers – Air
Fare was 270.65 during August, using 1982 –
1984 = 100 as the seasonally adjusted index.
• The August 2017 reading of 270.65 was -3.2% lower than a
year ago when the Consumer Price
Index for All Urban Consumers – Air Fare was 279.71
CPI Measure August 2017 August 2016 YoY % ∆ July 2017

2. Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers – Gasoline
200.96 182.09 +10.4% 189.06
Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers – Air Fare
270.65 279.71 -3.2% 273.32
1st Paragraph of Press Release:
The Buraeu of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released its
Consumer Price Index data for August of 2017. The
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Gasoline is a
measure that tracks the average cost of gasoline
(all types). The index measures price changes (as a percentage
change) from a predetermined reference date. During
August of 2017, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers: Gasoline was 200.96 when using 1982 –
1984 = 100 as the seasonally adjusted index. Also included in
the monthly report was the Consumer Price Index for
All Urban Consumers: Air Fare which registered at 270.65
during the month, again using 1982 – 1984 = 100 as the
seasonally adjusted index. Eligible for pricing are all regularly
scheduled domestic and international commercial airline
trips on certified carriers departing from each of the 87 cities in
the CPI sample. For the selected cities that do not have

3. a qualifying airport, the nearest city with a qualifying airport is
designated as the city of departure.
2nd Paragraph of Press Release:
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Gasoline
increased on a year-over-year basis by 10.4%
during August, the ninth monthly year-over-year increase in the
last 10 months. The Consumer Price Index for All
Urban Consumers: Air Fare decreased on a year-over-year basis
by 3.2% during August, which was the fifth monthly
year-over-year decline seen in the last six months.
3rd Paragraph of Press Release:
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Gasoline
is an important economic measure in that is a
critical gauge of overall inflation in the economy. Given the
percentage of consumer spending that is related to gasoline,
understanding how prices move is of critical importance to the
overall tracking of inflation. When prices are increasing
a steady, but low-single digit pace, it is a signal of economic
health as wages are likely rising at a similar rate. The
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Air Fare is
also an important metric as it is a signal into one aspect

4. of the cost of travel in the economy. Given the role that tourism
plays in the overall economy, this is an important data
point to gauge the prices that consumers are facing. Since
peaking in August of 2013 at 317.08, this index has fallen
nearly 15% which is likely reflective of the fall in gasoline
prices over that time.
Figure 1: CPI – All Urban Consumers – Gasoline
✓ The Consumer Price Index – All Urban Consumers – Gasoline
(All Types) is essentially flat to where
it was in January of 2015, however, there have been several
swings in prices over that time.
Figure 2: CPI – All Urban Consumers – Air Fare
✓ The Consumer Price Index – All Urban Consumers – Air Fare
has decreased 8.3% since January of
2015 as gasoline prices have fallen and transportation
alternatives become more competitive.
Figure 3: CPI – All Urban Consumers – Gasoline vs. Air Fare
(YoY % ∆)

5. ✓ The Consumer Price Index – All Urban Consumers – Gasoline
has had a significant amount of
volatility over time (on a year-over-year basis) when compared
to the CPI – All Urban Consumers –
Air Fare.
Instruction:
Please read the reading “Chapter 3 Reading”
1. Please write a Summary.
2. Least 2 pages.
Principles of Macroeconomics – Econ 1104
Project # 1 Additional Instruction
Fall Semester 2019
Please see the below instructions for the specific parts of the
assignment:
✓ For the table, when calculating YoY % ∆ please use the
formula: % ∆ =
������ �����−��������� �����
��������� �����

6. ✓ For the last 12 months calculation, it is simply just a
summation of the last 12 months of data.
✓ For the individual graphs, please see the instructions below:
o First highlight the column of data you want to include (Jan.
2015 – Current)
o Next, go to “Insert”, and select “2D Line Chart”
o Adjust the axis and labels
o Right click on the line and select “Add Trendline”
o In the bar that appears, select Moving Average and change the
periods to 12
Principles of Macroeconomics – Econ 1104
Project # 1 Description – “Economic Press Release”
Fall Semester 2019
For this assignment, each student will prepare a “press release”

7. type report for two related major macroeconomic
measures. Your name and the measures that you will be asked to
track and comment on are listed in D2L. For each
data set, you need to ensure the proper frequency, seasonal
adjustments, and uniformity of data.
You can access your data series from several places, but I
suggest using the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
(FRED). They have a very extensive database on domestic and
international macroeconomic, financial and banking
data. You can access using this URL:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/categories
This link gets you directly into the “categories” page. For those
with the employment data categories and unemployment
rates, your major category will be “Population, Employment and
Labor Markets”. For those with the CPI price index,
your category is “Prices”. If you type in the series shown
exactly in D2L, the search will quickly bring you to the correct
data series (obviously, all students can use the search if
preferred).
Once you get to the area with your data measure, simply click
on the series title you’re looking for (sometimes the

8. specific “seasonally adjusted” option will be below the title).
The next screen that pops up will allow you to “download”
the data and you can choose the time period for the download.
We will choose to start the download with January 2012
through the most recent period. As part of this assignment is
focused on getting you familiar with using Excel, click the
Download option and export the data into excel.
This project will consist of both a data analysis piece as well as
written commentary explaining the data, the analysis,
and the importance/relevance/implications of what the data is
saying. To that end, I would expect the following:
1st Paragraph of Press Release/Executive Summary Section
With Bullet Points and/or Chart, Table, Etc:
You first want to include a table (see example) with the most
recent values of the measures you are looking
at. Next, you’ll want to include either bullet points (see
example) or a paragraph detailing the data you’re
looking at, i.e., “the US Bureau of Economic Analysis recently
reported that REAL GDP in the US for the second
quarter of 2015 was $16.3 trillion dollars”). Notice, I mentioned
the source (WHO), name of the measure (WHAT),
the period for which I’m reporting on (WHEN) and the actual

9. numerical value of the measure for the time period. The
next sentence (or maybe two sentences) is a quick definition of
the measures (i.e. Real GDP is a measure of
the amount of goods and services produced in the country in a
given period of time, adjusted to remove the
impact of price changes).
2nd Paragraph of Press Release:
Next you want to discuss how your measures have changed from
last year, last month, over time, etc…Depending on
your series, this discussion may be in percentage terms or in the
actual amount the measure has changed. I’d say
most of you will discuss year-over-year percentage changes here
– those doing the unemployment rate will probably
want to talk about the actual change (that is from 7.4% a year
ago to 6.3% today or a drop of 1.1 percentage points).
Everyone else, you want to figure out the percentage change,
growth rate of your measure, or possibly index it to see
how it has changed over time.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/categories
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/categories

10. 3rd Paragraph of Press Release:
Then the final part of the press release (last paragraph) should
mention the “importance” of your measures by providing
some idea about how the measures relate to the overall economy
and to each other. Are there different explanations
for how each variable has trended over time, etc…Why do we
want to know why employment is changing or if consumer
prices are increasing? These are probably indicators of what is
going on in the overall economy or how households
are faring in the current economy, etc. This paragraph (at least
several sentences in length) is giving the context on
why someone might be interested in this data and any
interesting interpretations and/or explanations that you feel are
relevant.
I think that it would be reasonable to have your written portions
of the report on the first page followed by a
second page with your graphical analysis.
On the second page, you should include the graphical analysis
of your data series; you should include 3 graphs. First,
I suggest a separate graph for each variable with all the data
from January 2015 through the most recent period. (Two

11. graphs total) Secondly, I suggest one graph (with both data sets)
using some kind of year-over-year % change analysis,
indexing, or another analytical measurement you find
interesting (again using data from January 2015 onwards). For
the first two separate graphs, I want you to include a 1-year
moving average trend line along with time series graph of
your data. The three separate graphs should be made to fit,
together, on one side of a sheet of paper. For each graph,
I would like you to add one comment underneath the graph.
Something talking about the trend of the data over the
period of time, the current value versus a previous high or low,
or something else you find interesting in the dataset.
The idea for this part of the assignment is to see how you can
show and explain the pattern in the data over the last
several years or so. For all the graphs, please ensure that they
are properly labeled and fully explained in terms of
indices, data, etc. Also, please ensure that the three graphs fit
on one page and that they are presented in a
professional, report-style manner.
FRED GraphFRED Graph ObservationsFederal Reserve
Economic DataLink: https://fred.stlouisfed.orgHelp:

12. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/help-faqEconomic Research
DivisionFederal Reserve Bank of St. LouisUSCONSAll
Employees, Construction, Thousands of Persons, Monthly,
Seasonally AdjustedFrequency:
Monthlyobservation_dateUSCONS2012-01-0156262012-02-
0156292012-03-0156252012-04-0156182012-05-0156042012-
06-0156212012-07-0156322012-08-0156482012-09-
0156612012-10-0156742012-11-0156842012-12-0157242013-
01-0157462013-02-0157842013-03-0158022013-04-
0157962013-05-0158292013-06-0158552013-07-0158592013-
08-0158782013-09-0159102013-10-0159312013-11-
0159632013-12-0159322014-01-0159852014-02-0160072014-
03-0160382014-04-0160842014-05-0161092014-06-
0161332014-07-0161782014-08-0162102014-09-0162422014-
10-0162592014-11-0162722014-12-0162932015-01-
0163302015-02-0163512015-03-0163332015-04-0163902015-
05-0164282015-06-0164462015-07-0164692015-08-
0164862015-09-0165052015-10-0165492015-11-0165972015-
12-0166322016-01-0166302016-02-0166402016-03-
0166772016-04-0166992016-05-0166912016-06-0167012016-
07-0167332016-08-0167342016-09-0167682016-10-
0167952016-11-0168172016-12-0168252017-01-0168572017-
02-0168902017-03-0169042017-04-0169212017-05-
0169292017-06-0169562017-07-0169582017-08-0169882017-
09-0170042017-10-0170262017-11-0170602017-12-
0170932018-01-0171262018-02-0171992018-03-0172012018-
04-0172302018-05-0172672018-06-0172842018-07-
0173032018-08-0173372018-09-0173542018-10-0173792018-
11-0173842018-12-0174002019-01-0174562019-02-
0174332019-03-0174482019-04-0174822019-05-0174832019-
06-0175022019-07-0174992019-08-0175032019-09-017510
FRED GraphFRED Graph ObservationsFederal Reserve
Economic DataLink: https://fred.stlouisfed.orgHelp:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/help-faqEconomic Research
DivisionFederal Reserve Bank of St. LouisPAYEMSAll

13. Employees, Total Nonfarm, Thousands of Persons, Monthly,
Seasonally AdjustedFrequency:
Monthlyobservation_datePAYEMS2012-01-011332692012-02-
011335312012-03-011337692012-04-011338522012-05-
011339512012-06-011340232012-07-011341762012-08-
011343462012-09-011345352012-10-011346932012-11-
011348512012-12-011350882013-01-011352832013-02-
011355622013-03-011356982013-04-011358902013-05-
011361142013-06-011362952013-07-011364002013-08-
011366422013-09-011368312013-10-011370562013-11-
011373232013-12-011373902014-01-011375672014-02-
011377352014-03-011379852014-04-011383122014-05-
011385332014-06-011388572014-07-011390842014-08-
011392722014-09-011395832014-10-011398412014-11-
011401272014-12-011403962015-01-011406092015-02-
011408572015-03-011409342015-04-011412342015-05-
011415532015-06-011417232015-07-011420162015-08-
011421382015-09-011422712015-10-011426102015-11-
011428452015-12-011431252016-01-011432152016-02-
011434472016-03-011436812016-04-011438922016-05-
011439072016-06-011441892016-07-011445252016-08-
011446602016-09-011449302016-10-011450582016-11-
011452282016-12-011454432017-01-011456952017-02-
011458362017-03-011459632017-04-011461762017-05-
011463042017-06-011465332017-07-011467372017-08-
011469242017-09-011469422017-10-011472022017-11-
011474222017-12-011475962018-01-011477672018-02-
011480972018-03-011482792018-04-011484752018-05-
011487452018-06-011490072018-07-011491852018-08-
011494672018-09-011495752018-10-011498522018-11-
011500482018-12-011502752019-01-011505872019-02-
011506432019-03-011507962019-04-011510122019-05-
011510742019-06-011512522019-07-011514182019-08-
011515862019-09-01151722