Inflation remains stubbornly high as food, shelter costs grow

New data from the federal government was released Thursday indicating the Consumer Price Index reached 8.2% for the 12-month period ending in September.

The Consumer Price Index, which gives an idea of how much Americans spend on items such as food, shelter, energy and travel, dropped .1% from August. The Consumer Price Index reached a high earlier this year of 9.1%.

In September, the price of goods increased .4% despite energy prices falling 2.1%. The cost of food went up .8%, while the price of shelter went up .7%.

In the last year, the cost of food overall has gone up 11.2%. The price of housing continues to increase as well, jumping 6.6% in the 12-month period ending in September.

The rising cost of food and housing disproportionately impacts lower wage earners, who can't cut back on food or housing costs the same way they can scale back their gasoline use.

The persistence of inflation has caused the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in hopes of cooling inflation. But with the interest rate hikes come a greater risk of sending the U.S. economy into a recession.

Although Americans have seen wage hikes in the past year, they have failed to keep up with inflation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a 3% decline in real income in the last year.

President Joe Biden conceded that there is "more work to do," but said his policies are working despite Thursday's report.

"Because of my economic plan, the United States is in a stronger position than any major economy to take on this challenge. And my policies—that Democrats delivered—directly tackles price pressures we saw in today's report, like health care," he said.