Inflation Pressure On US Households Increased Food Insecurity In 2021-2022 - Report

Inflation Pressure on US Households Increased Food Insecurity in 2021-2022 - Report

The highest inflation rate in the United States in 40 years has hammered American families, saddling them with rising costs in food, rent, and health insurance, forcing heads of households to "Rob Peter to pay Paul," doing without, and increasing dependence on food pantries to supplement their meals, an Urban Institute report said Tuesday

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2023) The highest inflation rate in the United States in 40 years has hammered American families, saddling them with rising costs in food, rent, and health insurance, forcing heads of households to "Rob Peter to pay Paul," doing without, and increasing dependence on food pantries to supplement their meals, an Urban Institute report said Tuesday.

"With significant food price inflation in 2022 and the expiration of COVID-19 pandemic aid, food hardship has increased for many households across the country," the report's authors said. "... In December 2022, 63.2 percent of adults reported their household grocery costs increased a lot in the last year..."

Families had to devote much more of their limited incomes for a range of needs including gasoline, home heating, rent, childcare, health insurance, and mortgage payments. Meanwhile, the disparities between different ethnic groups were magnified, with Hispanic/Latinx and African Americans consistently at greater risk of food insecurity than their white counterparts between 2019 and 2022, reflecting longstanding disparities in opportunities and access to resources, the report said.

"Adults whose grocery costs increased a lot in 2022 relied on charitable food and other coping strategies but still faced high rates of food insecurity," the report found. "Adults whose grocery costs increased a lot were nearly twice as likely as other adults to be food insecure (29.0 percent vs. 16.5 percent)."

As a result of recent price increases, "62.0 percent of adults whose grocery costs increased a lot reported either reducing the amount of food they bought or not buying the kinds of foods they wanted, 43.3 percent withdrew money from savings, and 36.3 percent increased credit card debt. About 16.5 percent received charitable food," according to the report.