Increase? Decrease?

Here a paragraph from an Associated Press story:

Energy prices fell by 0.2 percent in April after a 2.9 percent surge in March. The PPI report showed that gasoline costs fell by 4.6 percent. However, that decline reflected the government’s seasonal adjustment methods. Since gasoline prices rose less than they usually do in April, that translated into a decline in the government’s figures.

While I am confident every Economist understands this thinking, I admit I am a little fuzzy. Does it say that because the prices rose less than they normally do, that means they actually went down?

Now the reason that is important to me is because my Preacher asked me to study the trends in Worship attendance at our Church. So I have been trying to be creative in my approach. I’m thinking. . .that if attendance went down less in May than it normally does, that would mean we actually had an increase in Worship attendance. So this Summer, when attendance goes down due to vacations, or company coming, or it being too hot to pray, even if our attendance drops below what we normally have from a numbers perspective, we will actually be able to report an increase in attendance for this Summer because it is more than what was less than last time we reported more.

Yep, I think the preacher is going to like this thinking!