What is stagflation, and is it coming back?

(NewsNation) — With inflation rising and hiring slowing, a dreaded word is back in the conversation: "stagflation."

Widely seen as a nightmare economic scenario, it's the rare double blow of rising prices and weak growth, squeezing consumers at the checkout line and in the job market.

"The whiff of stagflation is getting stronger," Harvard economics professor Jason Furman wrote on X Thursday. "There are no good options for the Fed given the set of circumstances we're facing."

Furman's warning followed new Labor Department data showing consumer prices rose 2.9% in August from a year earlier, the fastest annual pace since January. At the same time, hiring has slowed sharply, and the unemployment rate — now 4.3% — is at its highest level in four years.

Those conditions have put Fed policy