KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Inflation surged 5% in May, the fastest year-over-year pace since 2008.
While spiking demand and limited supply is driving up prices, William Black, associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City said inflation is not happening everywhere.
Black says if you can, avoid buying these three things: a house, car or flight for your next vacation.
"Those are the big three that have really driven the numbers we've seen," Black said.
While the U.S. is seeing a strong recovery, lack of supply and high demand has prices on the rise for the second month in a row.
"From an economist standpoint, it's really fascinating stuff because we haven't seen, A, inflation but, B, we haven't seen this kind of economy and by that I mean supply chain problems all over the place," Black said.
Supply chain disruptions have occurred several times throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. It had manufacturers cutting production and now they are playing catch up.
"The 'just in time idea' was let's have really minimal inventory and things will arrive just in time for the production process and that's great as long as you don't have disruptions in the supply chain," Black said.
Economists believe this period of inflation is likely transitory, meaning temporary. However, some markets are just picking up the prices.
"Honestly, this is probably not even peaked yet," JoAnne Weeks, Vacation Division Director at Acendas Travel said.
For the travel industry, flights and prices are taking off, trying to keep up with the demand for travel.
"Honestly, we don't see them going down anytime soon because the travel trend will continue to increase, and it's all based on the supply and demand and you've got people that have been, you know, pent up for a year and a half now," Weeks said.
Black says folks should not get too focused on the consumer price index reports. While prices are trending upward, he says it likely won't last.
