Tyler Schipper, associate professor of economics in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas, spoke with CNN about the latest Consumer Price Index report showing inflation slowed to 2.4% in January, an eight-month low. Schipper noted that while the headline data may look encouraging to economists, many households still feel squeezed by higher prices, particularly as some core costs and tariff-sensitive goods continue to rise despite broader signs of cooling inflation.
From the article:
The January CPI report capped off a week of new data that underscored a seemingly incongruent US economy: Consumer spending petered out as debt and meager pay gains weighed, but unexpectedly strong hiring fueled some optimism for the future.
“This is one of those tough weeks where spreadsheets and data are cheery, but households still aren’t,” said Tyler Schipper, an associate professor of economics at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, Minnesota. “Even a good inflation report from the perspective of economists is higher prices, and that is not going to sit well with a lot of households.”
