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Americans are furious as they continue to be overwhelmed by high grocery store bills even as inflation approaches pre-pandemic levels, according to a new survey.
Latest Axio Vibe Check survey A December survey of 2,120 adults found that about 72% of respondents felt inflation was still hitting grocery stores hard.
Also, nearly 60% said they feel angry, anxious, or resigned every time they buy groceries because they struggle to make ends meet.
Negative sentiment for grocery stores as food prices remain high even though inflation has fallen sharply since hitting a 40-year high of 9.1% last summer is occurring.
Inflation is currently just 3.4%, close to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, but not all prices are falling equally.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), grocery prices continued to trend upward in December, with prices for cereals and bakery products rising 2.6% from last year, and prices for fruits and vegetables rising 0.3%.
Egg prices have also soared 8.9% since November, fueled not only by inflation but also by the impact of bird flu, which is ravaging the industry once again.
Overall, the household food prices category will rise by 1.3% in 2023, a seemingly small number but an increase after years of high costs and a peak of 13.5% in August.
This means that Americans who spent $100 on groceries in 2019 will spend about $125.51 on the same amount of food in December, according to BLS data.
This shows Americans are still spending 21% more on groceries than they did before the pandemic, and Axio research shows that inflation remains a sore theme for most consumers. clearly shown.
Perhaps some of the anger stems from the fact that food prices plummeted after a high in 2022, reached more normal levels in the spring of 2023, and then rose again in the fall.
There remains hope that inflation will fall to pre-pandemic levels, but with the consumer price index still volatile, it is unlikely to fall soon.
Inflation is relatively low at 3.4%, although it is actually up from the 3.1% recorded in November and higher than the 3.2% expected by economists.
Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, said the latest BLS Consumer Price Index report shows that inflation is likely to continue easing into 2024, despite forecasting a difficult road ahead. He said that it shows.
“The big picture is that the economic disruption caused by the pandemic is fading, economic growth is settling into a more normal pace, labor shortages are becoming less of an issue, and this is helping inflation return to normal. .” In his summary of the BLS report, Adams writes:.
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