U.S. economic downturn, inflation cause severe hardships for lower-income families: Al Jazeera

CAIRO, May 27 (Xinhua) -- The United States has stayed mired in rising inflation, which has caused particularly severe hardships for lower-income families, many of them being people of color, Al Jazeera English-language news channel has reported.

Though many U.S. workers have received pay hikes, their wages have not kept up with inflation in most circumstances, the report said on Thursday.

The U.S. economy contracted by 1.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, a negative revision from the government's preliminary estimate of 1.4 percent.

One of the reasons behind the shrinkage was a bigger trade gap. The United States spent more on imports. The trade deficit reduced the U.S. GDP by 3.2 percentage points in the first quarter, the report said.

In April, consumer prices went up by 8.3 percent from a year earlier, barely shy of the fastest increase in four decades, which was set one month earlier.