BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Inflation continues to rise across the U.S., and now, with the ongoing government shutdown, that financial pressure is being felt even more deeply by Bakersfield families and local economists.
According to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices across the economy — including groceries, housing, gas, furniture, and electricity — have increased about 3% over the past year. That means a grocery trip that cost $100 in September 2024 now costs around $103 in September 2025.
For many families, even a small rise in prices can make a big difference.
Struggling to Keep Up
Jose Maldonado, a Bakersfield resident and father of four, was diagnosed with kidney failure last year and is now on dialysis. Since going on disability, he says it’s been increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
“I’m off of work on disability, and with the disability they cut my food stamps — they said I make too much,” Maldonado explained. “So now that I’m paying out of pocket for groceries, it makes it a little harder with the living situation, paying your bills, and being able to support your family.”For Maldonado, the loss of food assistance has also made it harder to maintain the specialized diet his health condition requires.
“I have to eat different and cut a lot of things out of my diet,” he said. “And a lot of the foods I can eat — the ones that keep me stable — are more expensive.”
Shutdown Stalls Economic Data
While local families are feeling the impact of inflation directly, economists are facing a different kind of challenge.
Dr. Richard Gearhart, an economics professor at California State University, Bakersfield, says the federal government shutdown has frozen access to key economic data — information that businesses, policymakers, and researchers depend on.
“It’s difficult because economists have been used to getting real-time data from the U.S. government for the past 50 years,” Gearhart said. “It’s the largest data repository in the world — with over 800,000 different data sets spanning decades.”Without that information, Gearhart explains, experts can’t run the economic impact analyses that guide decisions about investments, wages, or job growth.
“We can’t run economic impact analyses — which are what businesses or governments use when they want to plan investments or estimate how something will affect jobs, wages, or GDP,” he said. “We just can’t get into the data right now.”
Looking Ahead
With inflation still climbing and key economic data out of reach, experts warn that it could take months for the economy to recover from the shutdown’s ripple effects.
In the meantime, they advise consumers to save where possible, limit unnecessary expenses, and stay informed about changing prices and policies.
As families like the Maldonados continue to navigate financial uncertainty, one thing is clear — the intersection of inflation and federal inaction is hitting home in Bakersfield and beyond.
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