what is the consumer price index 
the u s bureau of labor statistics defines the consumer price index cpi as a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services indexes are broken down into food costs energy costs and all costs the overall index increased by 3 4 from april 2023 through april 2024 5the bottom linethe term indexation essentially translates to adjustment in terms of the values of goods and services commonly purchased by businesses and consumers adjustments are based on changes in various price data and ideally keep pace with the effects of inflation over time this can mean taking actions such as increasing the minimum wage when the costs of groceries are climbing 