Percent Change

A dramatic number can be a great headline for both TV and print. And sometimes it takes an extra step to translate numbers from an official to put into context. And finding the right headline can lead you to a great story. Let's use the following article as an example. It comes from the Standard-Times and its headline is a dull "New Bedford school lunch prices going up in 2 stages." Here is one of the key details:

"For elementary school students, from the current $1.50 per meal to $1.65 and the following year to $1.75."

I am terrible with math. But I know where to find useful math calculators. So I punched these numbers into an online web site that will tell you what the percent-change is between the numbers.

So after calculating the difference between $1.50 and $1.75, which is 16.6%, we can say that

"Students Face 16% Increase for School Lunches Over the Next Two Years."

This is also a useful tool to figure out whether or not the price increase being charged by the school matches the general rate of inflation for food in the general economy. Those numbers can from from the Consumer Price Index, and for the purposes of this blog entry, I will cite figures from here. Well, food prices are certainly rising:

"The food index rose at a 5.3 percent SAAR in the first quarter of
2008, following a 4.9 percent increase in all of 2007."

That totals a 10.2-percent increase over the last year- with more increases to come. In other words- with the way inflation is going now, it is reasonable to assume by the end of the year, food costs will have increased to a total of at least 16-percent (if not more). So the increase school officials are looking for may well be justified request. And these calculations can help you make that connection easy to understand for your audience.

And school lunch stories- if you can find a school that will open its doors for you- can be visual. Plus it has the added-bonus of affecting many people in your audience.