WASHINGTON — Falling costs for gasoline, clothes and cars gave shoppers a break and helped to keep consumer prices flat in May.

        That, along with another government report Tuesday showing that housing construction last month jumped 11.6 percent, the largest increase in almost seven years, offered a dose of good news for the unfolding economic recovery.

        The recovery has been progressing at a modest pace. With inflation under control, Federal Reserve policy-makers will have leeway to maintain short-term interest at 40-year lows to help the rebound keep rolling, economists said.

        Many think the Fed will leave rates unchanged at its next meeting Tuesday and next Wednesday, with some predicting rates could stay the same into the fall, depending on the rebound's vitality in coming months.

        “With the market jittery, unemployment stubbornly high and inflation not even on the field, the Fed has taken itself out of the game until at least early autumn and perhaps even until December,” economist Oscar Gonzalez at John Hancock Financial Services said.

        The flat reading in the Labor Department's Consumer Price Index, one of the government's most closely watched inflation gauges, came after a 0.5 percent advance in April. That rise was led by higher energy costs.

        The core rate of inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, edged up 0.2 percent in May, down slightly from a 0.3 percent advance the month before.

        The flat reading on the overall CPI was slightly better than the 0.1 percent rise many analysts were expecting, while the core inflation rate showing matched forecasts.

        The bigger-than-expected 11.6 percent increase in housing construction reported by the Commerce Department marked the largest gain since July 1995. It followed a 7.3 percent drop in April.

        “The mood among builders is good,” said David Seiders, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders. “They are facing good, solid demand. Mortgage rates are low and there's been strong increases in house values in the face of a stock market that refuses to show much life at all.”

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