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Inflated costs don't necessarily mean less consumer spending

Prices on everything from groceries to rent continue to rise, but despite the rising costs, consumers are still spending.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Runaway inflation is driving up your bills on everything from groceries to car prices to rent.

But these higher costs, don't necessarily mean lower spending, which could actually be part of the problem.

Chief Economist and State Economic Forecaster at Arkansas Economic Development Institute and UALR faculty Michael Pakko believes that as painful as the current inflation may be, it doesn't necessarily mean trouble down the road.

"It appears that the economy is fairly strong," Pakko said, adding "...there was a lot of pent up demand during the pandemic where people weren't able to get out and spend, and we're still experiencing a little bit of that playing out."

But some industries still aren't seeing a boost from that post-lockdown spending.

Pakko explaining, "We still haven't seen full recovery in service providing sectors."

Local landscaping company Going The Extra Mile is still hoping for that return to normal. Employee Cedric Webb explaining, "Pre-pandemic, we had a lot more committed clients or customers that pulled the trigger a lot, a lot faster than they are now."

So while they're not seeing as many jobs, Webb says the ones they do have are tough to staff.

"Trying to figure out where's all the, you know, the laborers to help us out with our projects," Webb said.

Changing how they run their business to focus more on bringing in new customers in the meantime, Webb adding, "A lot more sales talk and just counseling with the client."

But no one knows exactly when that return will be, Pakko adding, "definitive answer would require a crystal ball, which I don't necessarily have at my disposal," still explaining, "...the expectations of Federal Reserve policymakers are that inflation will come down gradually over the next couple of years."

And while some economists say the overall higher prices will stick around — the fuel market can change more quickly so it is possible that those prices could lower sooner.

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