Inflation accelerated in August in the United States, for the second month in a row, driven in particular by the rise in gasoline prices at the pump, bad news for Joe Biden who is seeking a second term in office. White House.
The consumer price index rose to 3.7% year-on-year, compared to 3.2% in July, according to the CPI index released Wednesday by the Labor Department.
This is more than the 3.6% that was expected by analysts, according to the Market Watch consensus.
And over one month, inflation is 0.6%, compared to 0.2% in July, in line with expectations.
“The gasoline index is the one that contributed the most to the monthly increase, representing more than half of the increase,” details the Labor Department in its press release.
“Also contributed to the monthly increase in August the continued progression of the housing index, up for the 40e consecutive month,” it is further clarified.
Inflation started to rise again in July, for the first time in a year, driven in particular by housing prices.
Despite the increase in gasoline prices in August, energy prices have fallen since August 2022, falling 3.6%.
Excluding the more volatile energy and food prices, so-called core inflation accelerates over one month, to 0.3% compared to 0.2%.
But over one year, it slows down, to 4.3% compared to 4.7% in July.
Fed meeting
These figures are published a week before the next meeting of the American central bank, the Fed, which will have to decide between raising its rates again, in the hope of causing a lasting slowdown in inflation, or maintaining them at their current level, in order to not to cause economic activity to slow down too much.
The main key rate is now in a range of 5.25 to 5.50%, its highest level in 22 years, after having been raised 11 times since March 2022.
The Fed, however, favors another measure of inflation, the PCE index, which also climbed in July, to 3.3% over one year, and which it wants to bring back to around 2.00%.
Inflation is a key subject in the American electoral campaign, ahead of the presidential election in November 2024.
Democrat Joe Biden, who hopes to be re-elected, insists that it is his economic policy which made it possible to slow down the rise in prices, which had soared to 9.1% over one year in June 2022, the highest since the early 1980s.
Consumers saw their purchasing power decline last year. Inflation caused real incomes to fall by 2.3% in the United States in 2022, although wages increased very sharply, the Census Bureau announced on Tuesday.
The United States has in fact been experiencing a severe labor shortage for more than two years, pushing up wages, which has contributed to fueling inflation.
An influx of new workers in August, however, pushed the unemployment rate to 3.8%, a signal that the situation is rebalancing after two years of labor shortages, a development likely to calm inflation.
But millions of American households will see their budgets tightened further from October, as they will have to start repaying their student loans again, after more than three years of pause due to the COVID-19 crisis.