The annual inflation rate is at its highest level in nearly 40 years, according to data released Friday by the Department of Labor.
SO WHAT
Polling shows Americans, especially blue-collar workers, are already concerned about wages and the spiking costs of goods. This latest development isn’t likely to help.
THE NUMBERS
Consumer prices rose 6.8% from November to 12 months ago, the highest such increase since June 1982, when inflation reached 7.1%.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Americans are feeling the economic squeeze.
- The top kitchen table worries for Americans are everyday bills and inflation, according to a Monmouth University poll released Wednesday.
ZOOM OUT
As noted this week by Axios reporter Hans Nichol, the Consumer Price Index – and not the jobs report – is now the data drop the U.S. government pays the most attention to.
- “When I was at CEA, we would have an all-out mobilization around jobs day but barely noticed when the CPI came out. Now, it is almost the reverse,” Jason Furman, who served as a chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama, told Axios.
