Grand Canyon Times

Sky-high inflation, which has just been reported at 9.1%, is causing the sharpest real wage decline in several decades. Despite a strong job market, most American workers are ending up financially worse off with each month that passes, and consumer sentiment is falling sharply.

On July 13, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported real average hourly earnings decreased 3.6%, seasonally adjusted, from June 2021 to June 2022 and decreased 1% from May to June.

BLS also released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the 12 months ending June 2022. The data showed a 9.1% all items annual increase, which represents a 1.3% climb from last month and a new four-decade high. The largest contributor was the increase in the index for gasoline, followed by the food and shelter indexes.

"REAL (inflation-adjusted) hourly earnings DECLINED at the steepest in four decades in June. For a couple earning $100,000 last year, this is a $3600 pay cut in 2022," Heritage Foundation Research Fellow and Economist Joel Griffith said in a July 14 Twitter post.

After subtracting CPI inflation, the average pay for non-managerial workers was down 2.7% over the last 12 months. That was the steepest drop since 1980 (except for a single month at the start of the pandemic, when data was distorted), Axios reports.

Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers are up 2.2% since December 2021. Axios says that would typically be ideal for a six-month period, however, consumer prices rose 5.4% in that same span.

Consumer sentiment during the month of June was reported at an all-time low. According to the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers results, June saw a -41.5% year-over-year change in the Index of Consumer Sentiment. The Index also saw a -14.4% change from May to June.

The latest New York Times/Siena College poll revealed the president's approval rating is now at 33% among Americans. With more than three-quarters of registered voters seeing the United States moving in the wrong direction, The New York Times reports that the "pessimism spans every corner of the country, every age range and racial group, cities, suburbs and rural areas, as well as both political parties."

According to World Population Review, the average household income in Arizona is $80,779. When adjusted for inflation, this number drops by $2,908 to bring the annual income to $77,871.