U.S. consumer inflation reached an 8.6% annual rate in May, its highest level in more than four decades as surging energy and food prices pushed prices higher.
The Labor Department on Friday said that the consumer-price index increased 8.6% in May from the same month a year ago, marking its fastest pace since December 1981. That was also up from April’s CPI reading, which was slightly below the previous 40-year high reached in March. The CPI measures what consumers pay for goods and services.
May’s increase was driven by sharp rises in the prices for energy, which rose 34.6% from a year earlier, and groceries, which jumped 11.9% on the year. Prices for used cars and trucks rose 1.8% in May from April, reversing three months of declines. Shelter costs, an indicator of broad inflation pressures, accelerated on a monthly basis in May and were up 5.5% compared with a year ago.
High inflation is a downside of strong U.S. growth, fueled in part by low interest rates and government stimulus to counter the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact. The annual rate of inflation has risen sharply since early 2021, when the U.S. economy’s rebound from the pandemic accelerated, leading to supply disruptions and other imbalances that put upward pressure on prices for longer than policy makers anticipated.
