Consumer prices grew much faster than expected in October, according to data released this week by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.9 percent last month and was 6.2 percent higher that it was in October 2020, the largest annual increase in 30 years! Generally speaking, analysts were expecting a rise of 0,5 percent last month, up from 0.4 percent in August and 5.8 annualized over the past year. On the labor front, October numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) exceeded expectations with the economy adding 531,000 in October. The BLS data showed that of those jobs, the leisure and hospitality industry added 164,000, dropping the industry unemployment rate by 0.2 points to 7.5 percent. Notwithstanding that positive information, the tight labor market is showing no signs of easing and is continuing to push wages up. Average hourly earnings over the last year at hospitality businesses have risen by 11 percent, more than double the economy-wide increase of 4.9 percent for private sector companies.