WASHINGTON—A warehouse worker in Tennessee is running up against price increases that far exceed her modest pay raise. The owner of a pastry business in Massachusetts has had to reduce his product offerings and personally absorb higher costs. A grocery chain executive in Connecticut said he’s splitting his higher costs with his suppliers so he doesn’t have to raise prices across the board. Across the United States, in homes and in businesses, the highest inflation in a generation is heightening financial pressures and forcing people to adapt to a new reality. The government’s report Friday that consumer prices jumped 6.8 percent over the past year—the highest such inflation rate in 39 years—showed that some of the largest cost spikes have been for such necessities as food, energy, housing, autos and clothing. They are goods and services that millions of Americans regularly depend upon in their daily lives. Especially hard hit …