For Current And Historical This Release Is Embargoed — 1996-05-14

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.4 percent before seasonal adjustment in April to a level of 156.3 (1982-84=100), the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. For the 12-month period ended in April, the CPI-U increased 2.9 percent. The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) rose 0.5 percent in April, prior to seasonal adjustment. The April 1996 CPI-W level of 153.6 was 2.9 percent higher than the index in April 1995. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U rose 0.4 percent in April, the same as in March. The energy index registered its fifth consecutive increase--up 3.2 percent in April--after declining throughout most of 1995, and accounted for about three-fifths of the April advance in the overall CPI-U.