Current Trends

Food

Much agricultural property was wasted because there were labor shortages in truck drivers and factory employees. The lack of materials going to farmers and manufacturers meant a lot of them had to shut down. The lower availability of food products has resulted in raised prices mostly for beef, milk, eggs, and butter, among other things. Raised wage rates combined with the inflation in other sectors have forced restaurants to raise menu prices, weakening customer-business relations.

Shelter

Covid-19 is also why the inflation rate has increased in the housing market. House affordability rates have gone down because of the low amount of job opportunities, and less people have been willing to sell houses because they spend the majority of time at home. In order to combat inflation, mortgage rates have risen, which drives away potential customers because the rates are so high. Overall, there are not enough homes to meet demand.

Household operations, furnishing and equipment

The household operations market has also been hit hard by inflation because the products that contribute to its weight were all affected for various reasons. It is also partially due to more conservative spending by consumers because of the limited activities that people could go to.

Clothing and Footwear

Clothes have experienced a sudden hike in inflation despite being a normally low-inflation sector. This is because the fashion industry relies on a constant flow from inventory to the consumer's hands. Since more income groups have started saving there is less of that smooth system. Less demand for clothes means that the industry starts struggling, since the system was not built for times where clothes were not needed.

Transportation

Transportation has been affected by the rising price of gas, a lack of riders in public transportation, and increased delays in construction projects. Government decisions to prioritise certain projects over others has led to a slower infrastructure development on transportation, which means wasting resources by cancelling projects that are deemed unimportant. The availability of the materials to make these projects becomes smaller, which drives up inflation as a result.

Health and personal care

Usually, healthcare isn't affected by inflation to a major degree because their top consumers are government or privately-established healthcare providers. However, shortages of supply from world conflicts and the pandemic have caused labs to be missing tools and other research equipment, making medicine production more costly. While this hasn't had a significant impact on the industry, it could destabilize the market in the future.

Recreation, Education and Reading

Due to labour shortages, supply chain disruptions, rising interest and energy rates, and Covid-19 recovery, recreation has also had a high increase in inflation. Prices at normally low-cost recreation centers will rise because of the need to make up for the profits lost by Covid isolation.

Alcoholic beverages, tobacco products
and recreational cannabis

The alcohol industry has been relatively resilient to inflation. This is because many types of alcohol are relatively affordable luxury items, meaning there generally isn't a lack of supply or too much demand. Since alcohol doesn't have a huge weight in the CPI basket, having slight periods of profit loss does not affect a business' performance in the long run.