September 26, 2016

Seattle CPI Maintains its 2% Pace, National Index Lags Behind

By Jim Cline

The recently released August CPI-W report shows the Seattle index continuing at the same level last report in the bi-monthly June report: 2.0%. As it has for some time, the All-Cities-W, as it has recently, continued to lag behind at 0.7%. This chart shows the two indices over the past 12 months:

As we have been indicating in our recent blogs on this topic, the strong economic growth in Seattle is contributing to its continued outpacing of the All-Cities CPI. As we have noted, this is part of a longer term advantage that the Seattle index has retained.

The Seattle index is likely the most used index for Washington labor contracts, followed by the All-Cities index. Here is the latest numbers on other indices commonly used:

CPI INDEX* CPI-W CPI-U
All-Cities (Aug 2016) 0.70% 1.10%
Seattle (Aug 2016) 2.00% 2.10%
West Coast (Aug 2016) 1.10% 1.60%
West B/C (Aug 2016) 0.60% 0.70%
Portland (First Half 2016) 1.20% 1.70%

These Seattle inflation numbers represent a bit of a drop off in the rate from earlier in the year. But they increase the likelihood that 2017 wage settlements on Washington public safety contracts will be at 2% or more. In some upcoming articles, we’ll provide a detailed report on current wage settlement trends.

**Please visit our Website for the most current CPI reports **

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Jim received his B.A. with distinction in Political Science. [More…]

Sam received his B.A in Political Science and M.A in International Political Economy. [More…]

Amy received her B.A. in Integrative Physiology. [More…]