New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS): The latest US government data on inflation indicates that consumer prices are continuing their rapid rise as pandemic-battered supply chains struggle to keep up with rebounding consumer demand, ABC News reported.

The consumer price index -- a measure of the prices Americans pay for a market basket of everyday goods and services -- jumped 7 per cent over the last 12 months, the Labor Department (DOL) said on Wednesday.

This marks the largest one-year increase since the period ending in June 1982, the DOL noted, as per the report.

The index climbed 0.5 per cent in December, a slight reprieve from the 0.8 per cent seen in November.

The fresh data comes as economists and policymakers decide how to respond to inflation as data indicates it isn't going away.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had said on Tuesday that the Fed is prepared to raise interest rates faster than originally planned to respond to the climbing prices, the report said.

The so-called core index, or measure for all items except the more volatile food and energy indices, climbed 5.5 per cent over the last year -- the largest 12-month change since February 1991. The core index spiked 0.6 per cent in December, building on the 0.5 per cent increase seen in November.