--- title: Nearly 80% of Americans Expect Inflation to Get Worse in the Coming Months description: Inflation is at a 40-year high, and most Americans think that inflation will rise in 2022, according to a new Gallup poll. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 501 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ published: '2022-01-28T17:49:18.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T17:11:26.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - inflation word_count: 479 canonical: https://money.com/inflation-predictions-2022-gallup-poll/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Woman inspecting a product while she is shopping at a supermarket](https://img.money.com/2022/01/News-Americans-Think-Inflation-Will-Rise.jpg) Inflation is at a [40-year high](https://money.com/inflation-gas-meat-car-prices/), and the vast majority of Americans think it's going to get worse. According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer prices rose 7% over the 12 months ending in December 2021, marking the largest increase in inflation since 1982. The high inflation rate was driven by major price spikes in a few key areas, including: [used car prices](https://money.com/new-used-car-prices-december-2021/) (37% increase), energy — including electricity and [gasoline](https://money.com/gas-prices-supposed-to-drop-2022/) (29% increase) **—** and [food](https://money.com/save-money-on-groceries/) (6.3% increase). Consumers aren’t optimistic about where things are heading next. According to [new research](https://news.gallup.com/poll/389129/americans-expect-inflation-persist-next-six-months.aspx) from Gallup, 79% of Americans expect inflation to increase over the next six months. For the past 15 years, it's been fairly standard for only about 60% of Gallup poll participants to think that inflation would rise in the near future. “In the past, Americans have always been more likely to say inflation will increase rather than decrease, but the current expectation is higher than usual — in fact, it is the highest Gallup has measured,” the report states. Inflation is taking a toll, too. In phone interviews with a random sample of more than 800 Americans, Gallup asked, “Have recent price increases caused any financial hardship for you or your household?” About half (49%) said yes. Of those, 40% said they’re experiencing “moderate hardship” and 9% reported “severe hardship.” In the same interview, Gallup asked about the economy more broadly. Two-thirds (67%) of Americans said economic conditions are “getting worse.” While Americans are feeling pretty pessimistic about the economy as a whole, there is an upshot: the labor market. About three-quarters of Americans think it’s a good time to [get a quality job](https://money.com/best-job-search-sites/), Gallup reports. Wages have also been increasing in many areas, especially for minimum wage workers and service employees. At the beginning of this month, [21 states introduced minimum wage hikes](https://money.com/places-minimum-wage-15-hour-2022/). Many major employers, including Bank of America, Costco, CVS, PNC Bank, Southwest Airlines, Target, Wayfair and others, have recently announced (or already implemented) [minimum wages of $15 or higher](https://money.com/hobby-lobby-jobs-18-hour-wages/). Likewise, starting Jan. 30, the minimum wage for all federal employees will jump to $15, affecting approximately 67,000 workers who currently make less than that. Meanwhile, even after years of advocates calling for a [federal minimum wage increase to $15](https://money.com/15-minimum-wage-myths/), it remains frozen at $7.25 an hour. It’s been at that level since July 2009. Had it increased at the rate of inflation, the federal minimum wage would currently be $9.39. In effect, not only have federal minimum wage workers not received a raise in nearly 13 years — thanks to inflation, the buying power of their wages have *decreased* by $2.14 per hour. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/inflation-predictions-2022-gallup-poll/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Financial Markets", "item": "https://money.com/financial-markets/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Nearly 80% of Americans Expect Inflation to Get Worse in the Coming Months" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/inflation-predictions-2022-gallup-poll/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/inflation-predictions-2022-gallup-poll/", "name": "Nearly 80% of Americans Expect Inflation to Get Worse in the Coming Months", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2022-01-28T17:49:18.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/inflation-predictions-2022-gallup-poll/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/inflation-predictions-2022-gallup-poll/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T17:11:26.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Nearly 80% of Americans Expect Inflation to Get Worse in the Coming Months", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2022/01/News-Americans-Think-Inflation-Will-Rise.jpg", "width": 2312, "height": 1541, "caption": "News-Americans-Think-Inflation-Will-Rise" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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