Prices rose last month at a pace not seen since the beginning of the year and consumer sentiment fell to a five-month low in October as the Trump administration's tariff policies and the GOP's inflationary budget law take hold.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said Friday that the consumer price index (CPI) rose at a 3% annual rate in September, up from 2.9% in August. Gas prices rose 4.1% last month and were "the largest factor" in the monthly inflation increase, the agency said. Food prices rose 0.2% in September.
"Indexes that increased over the month include shelter, airline fares, recreation, household furnishings and operations, and apparel," BLS noted.
Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at the Groundwork Collaborative, said in response to the new data that "prices continue to rise, and families can feel it every time they check out at the grocery store or fill up at the gas pump."
"Trump's chaotic economic policies continue to drive up costs for everyday essentials as the job market weakens," said Jacquez. "Working families are being pummeled by higher prices, and the Trump administration has no intention of fixing it."
Indivar Dutta-Gupta, an advisor with the advocacy group Community Change, said that "today's inflation report confirms the continued strain on American families under this administration's radical 'survival of the elitist' agenda, where the president's wealthy and well-connected friends thrive and the rest of us suffer."
"This administration and the Congress it controls have prioritized showering their billionaire friends with massive tax cuts while making it harder for regular people to afford basic necessities," Dutta-Gupta added. "Even this week, the administration has said that it will effectively break the law by refusing to fund vital food assistance, which tens of millions of struggling families rely on to manage the increasing cost of living imposed by the Trump administration."
The inflation data's release was delayed by the ongoing government shutdown, and the White House said Friday that the Labor Department likely won't publish CPI figures next month for the first time in more than 70 years.
The September inflation report came as the University of Michigan's closely watched Surveys of Consumers found that consumer sentiment this month dropped to its lowest level since May as Americans remain anxious over elevated and still-rising prices.
"Inflation and high prices remain at the forefront of consumers' minds," said Joanne Hsu, the director of Surveys of Consumers.
Heather Boushey, senior research fellow at the Reimagining the Economy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School, said the Trump administration has brought the country to "an unnerving economic moment."
"Between high tariffs and the ways that ICE is rounding up employees at workplaces across the country, there are ongoing forces pushing prices upwards," said Boushey, "while the lack of a coherent economic agenda from the Trump administration threatens to push the economy into reverse."
