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Holiday's "12 days" cost more this year

By Vivien Lou Chen
Bloomberg News Service

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The shopping list for the "Twelve Days of Christmas" rose 2.4 percent from a year ago to $17,296.91, as the cost of French hens soared and wages jumped for ladies dancing.

The increase in PNC Advisors' Christmas Price Index "closely mirrors that of the government's Consumer Price Index," the unit of Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group said in its tongue-in-cheek report. The "true cost" of Christmas, reflecting the price of repeating gifts in the song, rose to $66,334.46 from $65,264.28.

The index underscores broader trends in the U.S. economy, PNC Advisors said. The higher cost of hens and geese-a-laying in 2004 may be attributed to fewer hatched birds and the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar, while the price of skilled labor such as dancers is rising at a faster rate than the less-skilled eight maids-a-milking, the report said. Rising energy costs drove up the delivery price for a pear tree.

"The abundance of cheaper labor in countries such as India and China has resulted in pressure on U.S. manufacturers to outsource unskilled labor," said Jeff Kleintop, chief investment strategist for PNC Advisors. "As a result, the cost of skilled dancers has steadily increased while the unskilled milk maids haven't managed an increase in pay for their services in many years."

Three French hens cost $45, compared with $15 a year earlier. Nine ladies dancing cost $4,400.13, up 4 percent from Christmas 2003. Eight maids-a-milking hired out at $41.20, unchanged from a year earlier.

PNC Advisors first came out with the index in 1984. Consumer prices for all goods and services were up 3.2 percent for the 12 months that ended in October, figures from the Labor Department show.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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