what does 7.9% inflation mean? Is that the percentage the currency loses during one month?
In: 6
*Edit to add that this is for the U.S.
To elaborate a little on the correct answers already provided, it helps to understand how they determine inflation.
The inflation numbers given are based on a survey of items from categories that are deemed “representative” of the whole. This is fairly accurate overall, but does include input for items that people aren’t nearly as concerned with as others. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does apply weighting to the numbers gathered for items to attempt to balance out some of these issues. After all, a price spike on luxury jewelry isn’t necessarily indicative of the currency losing value if all other prices are remaining pretty steady. And since its something people don’t buy often it shouldn’t be weighed similar to a price spike in gasoline or electricity.
Items included in the Consumer Price Index by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S. for determining inflation include (nowhere near inclusive, they survey a ton of stuff, but its still nowhere near all available products and services):
Household furnishings and supplies
Furniture
Appliances
Clocks, Lamps, Decorative items
Indoor plants and flowers
Clothing
Jewelry & Watches
Toys
Recreational Reading Materials
Alcoholic beverages
Tobacco products
Housing
Foods
Utilities
You get the picture. Depending on what arena you are looking at, the inflation rate can be vastly different than the overall averaged rate. The current inflation for energy over the last year is at 25.6%. All items except food and energy is at 6.4%. Individual categories/items can have actually deflated while the overall average is inflating.
If you are really curious about what the numbers are for specific items or months you can check out their website, the data is readily available and covers inflation month to month (so inflation from January 2022 to Febuary 2022) as well as year to year (January 2021 compared to January 2022).
[https://www.bls.gov/cpi/](https://www.bls.gov/cpi/)
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