Wednesday, May. 29, 2024
Was inflation at 1.4% before President Biden took office?
By January 2021, US inflation was at 1.4%, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is in contrast to President Biden’s claim on May 8, 2024 that inflation sat at 9% before he took office.
Inflation had been increasing prior to Biden’s presidency, climbing from a low of 0.1% in May 2020. It peaked in June 2022 at 9.1%, and has dropped and stagnated just above 3% since June 2023.
The increase was also seen globally, with median global inflation increasing to 8.8% by mid-2022. A number of factors have been proposed as causes to the spike, many relating to the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on national economies and supply chains. The Russia-Ukraine war further affected sectors such as energy and food, contributing to global and national inflation trends.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- AP News Biden cites erroneous inflation statistic to make his case about the economy
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics 12-month percentage change, Consumer Price Index, selected categories
- Council on Foreign Relations Global Inflation Tracker
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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