Higher Prices Still Vex Consumers Despite Progress on Inflation, Yellen Says

The inflation rate has plunged over the past year without dumping the economy into a recession or killing the labor market, but it has still left a raft of higher prices in its wake, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Monday.

"Although prices in general are rising much less quickly, Americans still see increases in some important prices, including food from where we were prior to the pandemic," Yellen said in an interview on CNBC.

Yellen noted that inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, came in at 3.2% in October, down from its peak of 9.1% in June 2022.

"We're making considerable progress in bringing inflation down," she said. "But Americans do notice higher prices from what they used to be accustomed to."

President Joe Biden has signed three key piece of legislation – the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act – that are investing trillions in the U.S. economy, Yellen said.

"We've had responsible investments in the U.S. economy that will have a payoff," she said.

And as those investments generate jobs and economic activity, inflation appears to be headed lower.

"I think as inflation comes down, prices stop rising, and the labor market remains strong Americans will begin to see that we have made meaningful progress," she said.