The Consumer Price Index and Inflation

Note for Macintosh Users

If the table from the BLS Web site does not copy and paste into Excel in two columns, follow these steps:

  1. Go back to the Web site and create the table as before, except select the Output Type as Text, comma delimited. The result will have both the year and the index in one column.


  2. Save this data set as a text file.


  3. In an Excel worksheet, choose Data, Get External Data, and Import Text File. Select the file you just saved, and click Import.


  4. Choose a Delimited file type with delimiter Comma.


  5. Click Next, Finish, and OK.


  6. The result is shown at the right. The data are in rows 37 and beyond, beginning with the headings Year and Annual. Copy the data through 2002 (or the last year shown), paste them into Sheet 2, and continue to the next section of the module.

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