People walk by shops on Nov. 13, 2020, in Rehoboth Beach, Del. The Friday, June 10, 2022, a report on consumer prices is expected to show that annual inflation slowed ever so slightly to 8.2% in May from 8.3% in the prior month. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
The costs of gas, food and other necessities likely shot up in May, giving Americans no respite from the worst outbreak of inflation in four decades, according to an Associated Press report.
Economists have forecast that overall consumer prices jumped 8.2% last month compared with a year earlier, according to data provider FactSet. That would be barely below the 8.3% year-over-year surge in April and the 8.5% increase in March, which was the most since 1982.
And on a month-to-month basis, prices are expected to have jumped 0.7% from April to May, up sharply from a 0.3% increase from March to April. The acceleration would almost certainly be due to gas prices, which had declined in April but leaped more than 10% in May alone and have since reached an average of nearly $5 a gallon nationwide.
America’s rampant inflation is imposing severe financial pressures on families, forcing them to pay much more for such items as food, gas and rent and reducing their ability to afford discretionary items, from haircuts to entertainment. Lower-income and Black and Hispanic Americans, in particular, are struggling because, on average, a larger proportion of their income is consumed by necessities.
