TOLEDO, Ohio — After a difficult few years of struggling with ballooning prices, financial experts are predicting inflation could decline across the country in 2024 as the country continues its battle to prevent a recession.
But that doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet.
Recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show from December 2021 to December 2023, inflation has taken its toll on all kinds of prices; Energy has risen by nearly 33%, shelter has risen by 19% and the price of food has skyrocketed nearly 34%.
People that WTOL 11 talked to at the Toledo Food Market in east Toledo say they're feeling the squeeze.
"Every time I go to the store, the prices go up again," said Ronnie Hurst, who has been a customer of the Toledo Food Market for years.
Hurst said inflation has forced his family to reconsider what they can put in the grocery cart.
"We have to make decisions about what we can get even before we go to the store," he said.
Toledo Food Market Manager Amilia Perez said she knows increasing prices put her customers in a tough position, but they have no other choice.
"With prices going up, we have to pay more and the customers have to pay more, so it's a lose-lose situation," she said.
While unemployment in the U.S. is hovering around just 3.7%, Perez said everything seems to be expensive and she needs to work seven days a week just to put food on the table for her kids.
"I rarely get to spend time with my kids," she said. "I'm either working night shift at Home Depot or working weekends (at the Toledo Food Market). I make too much to get food stamps, so it sucks."
But Perez said the most challenging side effect of inflation has been rent.
"Just last year I was paying $550 for rent and now I'm paying $900," she said.
Both Perez and Hurst are hoping the U.S. government can curb inflation in 2024 through price cuts; early indicators show there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
In November, the Consumer Price Index, a key indicator of inflation, was up 3.1% year over year, a shadow of its 2022 peak of 8.9%. Federal officials expect the economy to hit the 2% inflation target in 2024.