The consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic are becoming more evident with each passing day. At the moment, statistics show that high inflation hits US citizens, as the costs of basic necessities are on the rise.
Consumer Prices Started Rising in September
An increase in consumer prices across the US started in September. As a result, Americans had to start paying more for food, rent, and various other goods. This also brought pressure to Biden’s administration and a need to urgently solve existing supply chain issues.
Unfortunately, the inflation will likely continue in the upcoming months, as Jerome Powell blames the supply chain bottlenecks for this issue.
The global shortage of workers, robust demand, and the pandemic are still main contributors to the inflation, which caused the consumer price index to rise 0.4% in September, right after it climbed 0.3% in August.
Food prices also rose 0.9%, and the rent increased 0.4%. Additionally, experts believe that rising rents will remain a major source of inflation in the upcoming months.
What’s more, gasoline prices and natural gas prices also grew. In addition to rents, a 1.3% increase in prices of new motor vehicles increased core CPI.
There’s also evident wage inflation because people leave their job positions. There are now 10.4 million unfilled job openings across the US. Additionally, strong inflation could force higher interest rates.