Grand Canyon Times

Household income erosion in Arizona is now considered a $1,592 annual loss, as inflation rises to a 40-year high and decreases in median household income wreaks havoc across the United States.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) earlier this week released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the 12 months ending in March. It reported an 8.5% all-items annual increase – the largest increase in over 40 years, since 1981.

"Imagine being a young family right now; rent for a two-bedroom home went up 22% in the last year," Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said on Twitter recently. "Imagine being retired, with 8.5% inflation; your purchasing power has been significantly diminished. Imagine your car gives out today; used cars are up +35% from last year and new cars just had the biggest inflation jump ever. Chances are you are among the Americans hit hard by this record inflation. We need real action from Biden, and we need it soon."

Additional reports from the BLS found that real average hourly earnings decreased 0.8% from February to March and dropped 2.7%, seasonally adjusted, from March 2021 to March 2022. Increases in the gasoline, shelter, and food indexes were cited as the largest contributors to the seasonally adjusted all-items increase, with the gasoline index rising by 18.3% in March and accounting for over half of the all-items monthly increase.

Data collected by the World Population Review found that the -2.7% wage inflation for March 2022 resulted in a $1,592 year-over-year loss in the median household income in Arizona. This brought Arizonan's current average household income to $58,945 a year.

Inflation has been on the rise across the country since the beginning months of the Biden administration, and has continued to rise since Russia began its war with Ukraine.