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August 13, 2021 at 12:02 PM
The Bureau of Labor Statistics just posted the consumer price index data for July, showing a 5.4% rise for the past 12 months and 0.5% from June.
This prompted The Senior Citizens League to estimate that the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for Social Security benefits in 2022 — usually announced in October — could be 6.2%, the highest since 1983.
The CPI measures a “market basket” of consumer spending, which includes what individuals pay for goods and services such as food bought at grocery stores, restaurant meals, clothes, energy, vehicles, rent and car repairs.
To measure these price changes, the U.S. Census Bureau conducts regular household surveys for the BLS. The Consumer Expenditures Surveys aim to provide the public with information “on the complete range of consumers’ expenditures and incomes,” according to the BLS.
In July, only one of the 20-plus spending categories went down: medical care commodities, which fell 2.1%. Other items tracked by the BLS rose between 0.8% and 41.7%.
To see which specific items and spending categories had the greatest 12-month price increase in the latest CPI survey results, click through the gallery above.
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