11. Inflation in Canada

 From Statistics Canada:

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 4.4% on a year-over-year basis in September, the fastest pace since February 2003 and up from a 4.1% gain in August. Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 3.5% year over year in September.

Prices rise in all eight major components, 12-month % change

	August 2021	September 2021
All-items Consumer Price Index	4.1	4.4
Food	2.7	3.9
Shelter	4.8	4.8
Household operations, furnishings and equipment	1.5	1.5
Clothing and footwear	-0.2	0.2
Transportation	8.7	9.1
Health and personal care	2.9	3.0
Recreation, education and reading	2.2	2.1
Alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and recreational cannabis	2.6	2.1

10. Inflation in the US

 Today in the morning the US Labour department published inflation data for October.

Statistics Canada will publish Canadian October data on November 17, so we will have a look then.

Here is what is happening in the US:

Summary

More information

Inflation is 6.2%, the highest since 1990. Main reason: energy prices increased by 30%. Food prices increased by 5.3%. Excluding food and energy, the inflation rate was 4.6%, the highest since August 1991. Used cars (26%) and new cars (10%) contributed a lot, but the increase in prices for shelter (3.5%) was also higher than the goal of monetary policy (around 2% inflation).

9. Labour shortages

 Labour is now in short supply.  Yet employment is still lower than 2 years ago. This causes endless problems for many businesses. So the question is: where did the workers go?

Paul Krugman, in an opinion in the New York Times, summarizes explanations:

1. Enhanced unemployment benefits during the pandemic provided financial cushion that workers use to search for a better job

2. People are still weary to go to work; also, they may have problems with care for their children

3. A nudge: workers in poor jobs realized how bad their jobs were. And so they quit and look for something better.

Of course these explanations are not mutually exclusive.