North Carolinians look for financial relief as they try to navigate inflation

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- North Carolinians are looking for financial relief as they try to navigate inflation and rising prices. "Everything's been going up. It seems like every week I go shopping. It seems like everything goes up $1," said Kim Latimore as she loaded groceries into her car.

Lattimore said she's paying double for groceries this year. It's the same for James Swinson who was out shopping Tuesday night in Garner.

"I could go to the grocery store and get milk for $2.30 and now it's like $4, or something like that, " said Swinson.

"So it's been a hassle, it really has been a struggle on the just the common folk, everyday folk," he continued.

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The numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Tuesday show consumer prices in November are up 7.1% from a year ago, but still down from the 7.3% some economists predicted.

There's been a dip in prices for medical services, used cars and trucks, and energy costs. But not where shoppers said they need it most. "I definitely see more sales on your televisions, even with your kid's electronics. We see more there," Swinson explained. "But, you know, we need it in the gas prices. We need it in the food, you know, we need it in places where it really helps," he continued.

Duke University Economics Professor Connel Fullenkamp said November numbers point to some positives, but we are not out of the dark, yet. "I think all of us would say that you know, 7% Inflation is better than 8%, but it's still way too high. And so we really need to have some kind of activity to slow that price increase down and unfortunately, one of the few things that really is going to work is tighter monetary policy," explained Fullenkamp.

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He attributes some of the ease of inflation to movement in the supply change and less energy demand.

"And that really sent oil prices and natural gas prices down. Where we're lucky in the sense that the Chinese continued to lock down their economy because that took a lot of demand off of the energy market as well," said Fullenkamp.

Luck or not, shoppers like Latimore and Swinson are hoping for relief in the grocery store aisle. "From top to bottom, it's a trickle down and we're filling it on the bottom. We're filling it out here you know so we really need to change," continued Swinson.