Lauren C. Moye, FISM News
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After experiencing the highest inflation rate in U.S. history, nearly 9 out of 10 manufacturers plan to raise prices in 2023.
The results come from a poll of 150 manufacturing CEOs conducted jointly by Forbes, Xometry, and Zogby.
After a year during which the consumer price index increased almost every month, inflation in the U.S. currently stands at around 8.26%. Manufacturers have already passed that increased cost on to consumers, with 80% of the CEOs saying they hiked prices between 5% and 15% to compensate. An additional 12% said they had already increased prices between 15% and 20%.
When asked if they planned to raise prices next year, 87% of the CEOs said they will once again raise prices on their manufactured products.
“Inflation has been rising, and if the expectations of manufacturing CEOs is an indication, it’s not going to let up soon,” said Forbes Senior Editor Amy Feldman.
“The expected price increases by executives of companies with manufacturing operations indicate that the inflationary climate is unlikely to recede quickly,” data analysis stated.
According to the conservative thinktank Heritage Foundation, consumer prices are already 12.7% more than they were in January 2021, before President Joe Biden took office. The corresponding purchasing power decrease translates into a $3,000 annual salary decrease for the average American, Heritage warned.
Now, America’s manufacturing CEOs are warning that the Democrat-led pay cut is only going to get worse as inflation continues to spiral in a deadly cycle.
“Some folks have raised worries that this could be a sign of persistent inflation. But that is not our view,” President Joe Biden said on July 19, 2021. “Our experts believe, and the data shows, that most of the price increases we’ve seen are expected to be temporary.”
Biden and several of his senior staff portrayed inflation as a temporary economic response to the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting supply chain issues. Their shrugging off early signs of economic woes meant a delayed attempt to get it under control.
Now that the Federal Reserve is forced to increase its rates at a faster and higher rate than anticipated, with expectations to see the central bank raise rates to 4.4% by the end of the year, America is estimated to also see 1.2 million job losses.
Accordingly, 19% of the CEOs acknowledged in the Zogby poll that they had already cut their workforces to help compensate for increased manufacturing costs.
More recently, Biden said in his Sept. 18 “60 Minutes” interview that the federal government was “going to get control of inflation.”
A Monmouth University poll released yesterday found that 82% of Americans view addressing inflation as a priority. Only 30% of poll participants approved of the Biden Administration’s handling of inflation so far.