Inflation continued to rise in May, once again hitting a new 40-year high, the Labor Department announced on Friday via the Associated Press.
Consumer prices rose 8.6% between May 2021 and May 2022 after previously seeing an increase of 8.3% during a one-year span between April 2021 and April 2022.
The Labor Department also reported a month-to-month price jump of 1% from April 2022 to May 2022, following an increase of 0.3% from March to April, with higher gas prices playing a crucial role in the surge.
America’s increasing inflation is forcing families to pay higher amounts on food, gas and rent, while leading to cutbacks on purchases such as haircuts and electronics. The rising inflation rate has had a significant impact on lower-income Black and Hispanic Americans whose income has been consumed by paying for necessities at higher prices, according to the Labor Department.
Economists are predicting that the inflation rate will eventually ease in 2022, through not by a significant margin as some experts forecast the consumer price index could fall below 7% by the end of 2022, having previously reached 8.5% in March, the highest rate since 1982.
The Federal Reserve is expected to continue raising interest rates at record numbers in an effort to cool spending and growth to curb inflation without leading to an economic recession.