Gasoline Pushed Inflation Rate Higher In April

The prices consumers pay for goods and services went up 0.4 percent last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says, as higher costs for gasoline pushed the inflation rate up.

In the past year, BLS added, consumer prices are up 3.2 percent.

According to BLS, higher prices for gasoline accounted "for almost half" of the overall increase last month.

Planet Money follows the economic trends over here. Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.