By The FirstInflation surged 8.6% in May as prices soared for items like food, fuel, and furniture; hitting a fresh 40-year high as families struggle to cope with higher costs.
From Fox News:
Inflation remained painfully high in May, with consumer prices hitting a new four-decade high that exacerbated a financial strain for millions of Americans and worsened a political crisis for President Biden.
The Labor Department said Friday that the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price for everyday goods including gasoline, groceries and rents, rose 8.6% in May from a year ago. Prices jumped 1% in the one-month period from April. Those figures were both higher than the 8.3% headline figure and 0.7% monthly gain forecast by Refinitiv economists.
So-called core prices, which exclude more volatile measurements of food and energy, climbed 6% from the previous year, also more than Refinitiv expected. Core prices also rose 0.6% on a monthly basis, suggesting that underlying inflationary pressures remain strong.
Rising inflation is eating away at strong wage gains that American workers have seen in recent months: Real average hourly earnings decreased 0.6% in May from the previous month, as the inflation increase eroded the 0.3% total wage gain, according to the Labor Department. On an annual basis, real earnings actually dropped 3% in May.
