Grocery Cart Inflation Jumps to Highest in 42 Years

A key measure of inflation showed groceries in May costing American households 11 percent more this year than last year, the biggest annual price gain since December of 1980.

The Personal Consumption Expenditure price index for food showed on Thursday that inflation has accelerated for at 11-consecutive months, picking up pace every month since June of 2021. Food prices were up 6.6 percent when the year started, eight percent in February, 9.2 percent in March, and 10 percent in April.

Compared with April, food prices were up 1.2 percent, up from one percent on a month-over-month basis in the prior month.

The recent month-over-month highs occurred in February and March, when prices rose 1.2 percent for two consecutive months. Food prices jumped 2.3 percent in April of 2020, when the lockdowns sent many families scrambling to hill cupboards. Those were the worst rates of month-over-month food inflation since a 1.8 percent gain in August 1980 and comparable to April 2008, when food prices rose 1.3 percent.- READ MORE