The ongoing struggle of consumers against inflation.

Inflation has been a major concern for consumers during the Biden presidency, with prices for essential goods rising significantly while incomes have not kept pace. While the rate of inflation is improving, consumers are still feeling the cumulative effect of rising prices. Incomes have risen about 3 percentage points less than inflation during the last two years, meaning Americans are falling behind. While a declining rate of inflation is underway, costs for consumers are still going up, and there is little chance of deflation anytime soon. Consumers will only catch up when wage growth outpaces inflation for an extended period of time.