According to Thursday’s government data, March saw consumers continue to spend even though inflation rose to the highest levels since late 1981.

Retail sales0.5% gain over the month before, which was slightly below the 0.6% Dow Jones estimate. This is a decrease from February’s upwardly revised 0.8% gain.

According to the Consumer Price Index, inflation rose 1.1% in the last month.

The retail sales data do not include inflation adjustments. Gas stations saw the largest increase in monthly sales, with 8.9% sales growth due to gasoline prices rising 18.3% over the same period. Over the past year, this sector saw an increase of 37% in its sales.

However, online sales fell sharply in October, with online sales falling 6.4%. The general merchandise and sporting goods stores experienced a 5.4% increase, while electronics and sports stores recorded 3.3% increases. Bars and food and drink sales rose by 1%.

Overall, retail sales increased 6.9% over a previous year. This is despite CPI inflation rising 8.5% during that time, which was the highest since December 1981.

Other economic data initial jobless claimsThe week ending April 9 saw 185,000 claims, an 18,000 increase over the previous week. This is higher than the 172,000 estimate. Continued claims fell 48,000 to 1.475million, a week after the headline figure.

Inflation continued to impact imports. prices rising by 2.6%According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this was the highest month growth since April 2011. This was even higher than the 2.2% estimate.

Import prices rose 12.5% on a 12-month basis. This is the biggest gain for imports since September 2011.