Consumer prices soared 6.2% in past year, most since 1990

American households have been struggling with accelerating inflation for months. On Wednesday, the government spelled out just how much.

Prices for consumers jumped 6.2% in October compared with a year earlier as surging costs for food, gas and housing left families facing the highest inflation rate since 1990. The year-overyear increase in the consumer price index exceeded the 5.4% rise in September, the Labor Department said. From September to October, prices jumped 0.9%.

Inflation is eroding the strong gains in wages and salaries that have flowed to America’s workers in recent months, creating political headaches for the Biden administration and congressional Democrats and intensifying pressure on the Federal Reserve as it considers how fast to withdraw its efforts to boost the economy.

With Americans in the midst of planning year-end travel, Thanksgiving meals and holiday gifts, the jump in inflation is making those purchases significantly higher than they were last year.

Fueling the spike in prices has been robust consumer demand, which has run into persistent supply shortages from COVID-related factory shutdowns in China and other overseas manufacturers. Ports are bottlenecked, with a lack of shipping containers magnifying the problem. America’s employers, facing worker shortages, have also been handing out sizable pay raises, and many have raised prices to offset higher labor costs.

The result has been accelerating prices for a broad range of consumer goods, from food, heating oil and patio furniture to paints, chemicals and window blinds. After initially affecting mainly goods in pandemic-disrupted industries, surging inflation has broadened into the many services that Americans spend money on, notably for restaurant meals, rental apartments and medical services, which jumped 0.5% in October.

Used car prices jumped last month after having eased in August and September. The cost of a used vehicle rose 2.5% from September to October and has soared more than 25% from a year ago. With automakers having slowed production because of parts shortages, prices for new cars have risen for seven straight months.

Grocery prices have climbed 5.4% in the past year, which will make Thanksgiving meals much costlier. The price of beef roasts has leapt 25% from a year ago. Bacon is up 20%.

The Biden administration has attributed higher meat prices to consolidation in the meat-packing industry, with lack of competition enabling big processors like Tyson’s to raise prices. Meat-packing companies have countered that COVID-related shutdowns of plants, and the difficulty in finding workers to staff the factories when they reopen, are to blame.

Many Republicans in Congress have blamed President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion financial aid package, approved in March, for intensifying inflation. The additional stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment aid, they argue, drove demand beyond what the economy could produce.

On Wednesday, Biden visited the port of Baltimore to highlight parts of the recently passed infrastructure package that will upgrade capacity at ports and, the administration says, help unclog bottlenecks and ultimately reduce inflation.

“Inflation hurts Americans pocketbooks, and reversing this trend is a top priority for me,” the president said.