Inflation is on its way back up.
Inflation accelerated again in September, according to the latest government figures, as financial stress ripples throughout the workforce.
The consumer price index (CPI) increased 0.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis in September and rose 3.7% year-over-year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Oct 14. That’s a climb from August’s reading of 3.4%.
In response to August’s inflation report, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, the first time they hiked rates in three years.
Expensive gas prices were the primary driver for rising inflation. The index for gasoline rose 9.1% in September, accounting for over half of the monthly all items increase. The national average price per regular gallon of gas is $4.33 as of Oct. 14, according to AAA.
The energy index increased 5.2% in September following a 2.1% increase in August, the BLS reported. The shelter index rose 0.4% in September after rising 0.3% in August. The index for food was unchanged in September, as the index for food away from home increased 0.2% and the index for food at home fell 0.1%.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased 0.3%, rising 2.6% over the year, following a 2.4% increase over the 12 months ending in August.
The inflation report comes as employers continue to grapple with persistent employee concerns about affordability. Employee financial confidence has fallen to its lowest level since 2012, according to MetLife, while financial literacy has also fallen to a 10-year low, according to a study by investment giant TIAA and Stanford University’s Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center.
SHRM’s Civility Index, a measure of workplace incivility and the factors contributing to it, recently found that concerns about cost and affordability are now among the top five contributors for incivility in the workplace. More than a quarter of U.S. workers (27%) said cost and affordability concerns were contributors to the acts of incivility they experienced or witnessed in the workplace in Q2 2026.
Adding to employees’ financial strain, real average hourly earnings for all employees decreased 0.5% from August to September, seasonally adjusted, the BLS reported separately Oct. 14. This result stems from an increase of 0.1% in average hourly earnings combined with an increase of 0.6% in the CPI.
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