Food Prices At The Grocery Store See Largest Increase Since 2008 As Inflation Surges
WASHINGTON (CBS/CNN) -- America's high pandemic-era price hikes were alive and kicking last month, when a key measure of inflation climbed to a level not seen since June 1982.
Consumer price inflation rose by 6.8% without seasonal adjustments over the 12 months ended November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
The price indexes tracking food and energy climbed to at least 13-year highs, having risen 6.1% and 33.3% over the 12-month period.
Meanwhile, groceries cost 6.4% more over the same period, the largest increase since December 2008. Food prices in restaurants jumped 5.8%, the biggest rise since January 1982.
"All of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased over the period," the Bureau said in its release. "The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs increased 12.8 percent, with the index for beef rising 20.9 percent."
Gas prices also soared more than 58%, according to the report, the biggest hike since 1980. Used cars and trucks were 31.4% more expensive, while new vehicles were 11.1% pricier than last year.
The big increases can be attributed to, in part, by supply chain disruptions and rising consumer demands due to the pandemic.
President Joe Biden acknowledged prices were rising but added "developments in the weeks after these data were collected last month show that price and cost increase are slowing, although not as quickly as we'd like," according to a statement.
That said, "price increases continue to squeeze family budgets," Biden said. "We are making progress on pandemic related challenges to our supply chain which make it more expensive to get goods on shelves, and I expect more progress on that in the weeks ahead."
Not everything got more expensive. Car insurance prices fell 0.8% between October and November, as did the price index for recreational activities and communication, which both declined 0.2%.
Economists expect price pressure to abate next year but have warned this process will be slow, especially when looking at inflation on the 12-month horizon.
"We expect this to continue until early in 2022 where we expect pricing to reach at or near 7.3% before costs start their long descent back towards 2%," said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, in a note to clients.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. CNN's Anneken Tappe contributed to this report.)
