Economic growth has pushed inflation to its highest point in more than 6 years

Inflation reaches 6 year high.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Consumer prices have been creeping upwards over the past year, pushing inflation to its highest point in more than six years, The Associated Press reported Thursday.

The Labor Department said that inflation is up 2.9 percent compared to a year ago, even though the consumer price index only jumped a modest 0.1 percent since last month. That's the largest annual gain since 2012, which for some products has offset one-third of the benefit of last year's GOP tax cut bill.

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Summer Meza, The Week US

Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.