Consumer Price Index (CPIx)

Source details

Target audience: Compilers of consumer price indexes (CPIs) and users of CPI data interested in understanding key concepts and compilation issues.
Qualifications: Some knowledge of economics and statistics or equivalent experience in CPI is helpful.
Technical requirements: Access to a computer with a reliable Internet connection and a Google Chrome web browser are essential.

Presented by the Statistics Department.
Follows the principles and recommendations of the CPI Manual (2020).
Provides an overview of key CPI concepts, definitions, and uses.
Covers index number formulas and practical implications of formula choice at lower and higher levels of aggregation.
Discusses sources and methods for sampling:
- Sampling areas
- Sampling items
- Sampling outlets
- Sampling varieties
Addresses treatment of missing prices:
- Methods for handling temporarily missing prices
- Methods for handling permanently missing prices
- Adjusting prices for quality changes
Covers updating and linking CPI data series, including chaining and linking indexes with updated weighting structures.
Highlights linkages to the 2008 SNA, including principles of scope, coverage, and valuation.
Emphasizes meeting data users' needs to ensure relevancy.

Upon completion of the online course, participants will be able to:

Identify key uses of CPI data and explain key consumer price index concepts and definitions and how these are applied in practice.
Identify and explain differences between the different index calculation formulas.
Define and explain the different levels of sampling in a CPI and how these sampling methods are applied in practice.
Identify and explain the different methods for the treatment of missing prices and describe how these are applied in practice.
Update CPI weights and link old and new indexes to form continuous time series of data.