President Joe Biden acknowledged that his administration must do additional work in the economic area because price increases are still too high, even though the president said some progress has been made in slowing inflation.

The statement by the head of state was released by the White House press office after the Labor Department shared December inflation statistics on Thursday. 

According to the latest data, in the last month of 2021, consumer prices in the United States rose sharply, leading to the largest annual inflation rise in nearly four decades, Voice of America reports.

For 12 months of 2021, the consumer price index increased by 7%. This was the largest year-on-year increase in inflation since June 1982. In November, the annual consumer price growth index rose by 6.8%.

The Labor Department report, released on Wednesday, follows an employment report released last Friday that saw the US labor market hit or close to its peak employment level in December.

White House economic adviser Brian Deese said Wednesday afternoon that the rise in inflation was due to unanticipated issues in supply chains.