Name: Breaking down the November CPI report
Uploaded: 2025-12-19T02:52:38.753Z
Duration: 3 min 33 s
Description: Geoeconomics correspondent Erin Delmore joins CBS News to discuss the latest numbers on inflation.

Geoeconomics correspondent Erin Delmore joins CBS News to discuss the latest numbers on inflation.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 2.7% in November, which was lower than the 3% rise forecasted by economists. This marks the slowest pace of inflation since March 2021, with notable cooling in sectors such as apparel and recreation. However, analysts warn that the data may be distorted due to disruptions in data collection during the recent government shutdown and the influence of holiday sales.

Despite the positive inflation data, public sentiment remains cautious, with only 32% of Americans polled viewing the economy as good. The unemployment rate also rose to 4.6% in November, the highest since September 2021. Economists emphasize that incomplete data and public perceptions could impact future economic behavior and consumer spending.

Breaking down the November CPI report

Some good news on the economic front. The Consumer Price Index, a key measure of inflation, rose 2.7% in November, lower than the 3% increase economists had predicted. Some analysts warn the numbers could be distorted by a disruption in data collection during the government shutdown. Despite the better than expected data, CBS News polling shows most Americans do not have a positive outlook on the economy. Only 32% of people polled say the economy is good. Joining me right now is Geoeconomics correspondent Erin Delmore. Thank you so much for being here. How do you read these latest numbers? Lindsay, it's a great headline. It shows that inflation has cooled to a four-year low. At the same time, there's some reason to look under the hood here. First, let's talk about what's up and what's down. We're seeing price pressures cooling in a couple of areas. One of them is apparel. Another is recreation, things like airfare or hotel stays. Cooling means going lower, right? Cooling means going lower, right. And when we talk about inflation, we talk about rates. We can't merely talk about highs and lows. We have to talk about how fast something is increasing. And that's because, Lindsay, certainly everybody watching knows, prices tend to creep upwards. So we're measuring how quickly they're creeping upwards. And what this shows is that prices aren't running up hot as fast as they were. They've actually slowed to a pace that we haven't seen since March, 2021. But the stubborn one here, let's look at something like housing. Well, housing, also called shelter inflation, has been one of the real runaway points over the last couple of years. This report actually shows that it's cooling. And that's one of the things that has economists eyebrows up at this moment. They're pointing to some discrepancies in the data. Now, Lindsay, certainly it's no surprise that the government shutdown this fall was the longest in US history. And what that means is that the Bureau of Labor Statistics wasn't able to collect price data, the kind of data that we form these economic reports on during the month of October. Some of that October data feeds into the November data. Since they didn't have the data, it's seen as prices being flat. That puts downward pressure on the readout for November. The easiest to understand one is that they started collecting data midway through November. Everybody knows what happens halfway through November. We start to see the holiday sales. You have Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Cyber Week, and you have retailers who are slashing prices trying to earn business from buyers over the course of the holiday season. So a lot of economists are saying if price pressures look a bit lower, it's because they could be a bit lower during this period of time, or the data could be a bit jumbled because we haven't seen the full picture. One thing I wanna ask you about is the unemployment rate because it ticked up to 4.6% in November. That's the highest since September 2021. Is that worrisome? But look, under 4% and you're seeing historic lows. We've normally seen just a bit above 4%. As you say, 4.6, it's a tick upward. What we're really looking to see is how Americans feel about their job security and whether companies are laying off workers in mass. Some of what comes to fruition toward the end of the year are things like deferred resignations out of the government workforce. Again, from the DOJ efforts that we saw in the Trump administration. So there is some carryover data here. But when we look at polling, like your CBS News polling and like polling that came out this week from Marist, PBS, and also from NPR, it's one of the top worries people are talking about, their own job security, the strength of the labor force. In fact, some people said they believe we're already in a recession. And while the technical definition of a recession hasn't been met, we haven't seen negative growth over two consecutive quarters measured by GDP. If people feel it, they start to behave that way. They pull back their spending. Consumer spending is the main thing that powers this economy. And so that perception can feed into reality. Wow, all right. Erin Delmore, thank you so much.

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Breakdown