Today’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report shows inflation at 5.0% year-over-year in March – down from 6.0% in February. Lower prices for food and energy pulled inflation down to its lowest level since May 2021. Groundwork’s Chief Economist Dr. Rakeen Mabud reacted to today’s inflation report with the following statement:
“Today’s inflation report is a clear repudiation of what the Fed has been telling us for the past two years: We don’t have to ramp up unemployment to bring inflation down. Inflation has fallen for nine straight months, all while Black workers, led by Black women, are experiencing the lowest unemployment rate since 1972.
“We are seeing the benefits of a tight labor market in action. It will be a real failure of leadership if the Fed throws away all these important gains in the labor market by pursuing additional rate hikes.”