1、CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress INSIGHTINSIGHTi i Breaking Down the U.S. Inflation Rate December 21, 2021 Focus on rising consumer prices has increased amid the latest data release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that the inflation rate, as measured by the Con
2、sumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), was 6.8% over the 12 months ending November 2021, the largest 12-month increase in 39 years. Inflation is generally defined as an increase in prices across the economy broadly. However, not all prices used to calculate the inflation rate increase by
3、 the same amount, and inflation rates can differ across geographic locations. This Insight examines the inflation rate across various product categories and geographic areas. Inflation Across Selected Expenditure Categories Table 1 below shows a breakdown of inflation across certain expenditure cate
4、gories. Core inflation (inflation that does not include energy and food prices) was lower than overall inflation, at 4.9% over the 12 months ending in November 2021. The increase in energy prices, historically a volatile source of inflation, was significantly higher over the same period (33.3%). Com
