Biden vows to keep ‘all hands on deck’ after dismal inflation report

Last month’s increase puts prices for common consumer goods 7.5 percent higher than this time last year

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President Joe Biden on Thursday said his administration would keep “all hands on deck” to bring an end to rising prices that have pushed the US inflation rate to the largest increase seen in four decades.

According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, the Consumer Price Index jumped by 0.6 percent last month, which equals the increase from December 2021 to January 2022. Last month’s increase puts prices for common consumer goods 7.5 percent higher than this time last year. That jump is the largest over any 12-month period since February 1981 to February 1982.

In a statement, Mr Biden acknowledged the “elevated” CPI report while noting that economic forecasters are predicting the inflation rate will “ease substantially” by year’s end. He also reiterated that lowering prices from pandemic-inflated levels has been, along with creating “a growing economy with more good-paying jobs”.

“On higher prices, we have been using every tool at our disposal, and while today is a reminder that Americans’ budgets are being stretched in ways that create real stress at the kitchen table, there are also signs that we will make it through this challenge,” he said.

The president also touted what he described as his administration’s “historic successes” in job creation, which he said has led to “the greatest year of job growth in history, Americans finding better jobs, better wages, and better benefits, along with the fastest economic growth in decades”.

Continuing, Mr Biden said last month’s “positive real wage growth”, “moderation in [automobile] prices” and declining unemployment claims were “good news” and “a sign of the real progress we’ve made in getting Americans back to work over the last year”, respectively.

“My administration will continue to be all hands on deck to win this fight. We will continue to rebuild our infrastructure and manufacturing, so we can make more in America and strengthen our supply chains here at home,” he said.

“We will continue to fight for costs in areas that have held back families and working people for decades, from prescription drugs to child care and elder care to their energy costs. And we will continue to promote more competition to make our markets more competitive and give consumers more choices”.