Grand Canyon Times

The latest consumer price index data showed that while prices continued to rise in July, wage earnings in Arizona are down 3.6% year-over-year.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), on Aug. 10, released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the 12-month period ending July 2022. The data showed an 8.5% increase on all items, a 0.6% drop from June. Chief contributors to those numbers included food, shelter and electricity, the BLS reported.

Real average hourly earnings for all employees fell a seasonally adjusted 3% from July 2021 to July 2022, the BLS reported, with the reduction in real average hourly earnings combined with a decrease of 0.6% in the average work week, resulting in a 3.6% decrease in real average weekly earnings.

"It’s a sign of how far and fast inflation has risen this year that an increase in prices of 8.5% in July on an annual basis triggered a market rally on Wednesday,” The Wall Street Journal wrote in an editorial on Aug. 11. “That’s down from 9.1% a month ago, and the trend is in the right direction, but one month’s respite is far from the end of this punishing inflation bout.”

Arizona's average household income has seen a year-over-year loss of $3,368, bringing the state's average household income down to $90,195 annually, Zippia reported.

While President Joe Biden took to Twitter on Wednesday to boast about reported 0% inflation in July, the Journal’s editorial board said the slowdown “came largely from volatile energy prices, which had soared in June."

The WSJ also reported that prices continued on their upward trend in most areas last month.

Food prices rose 1.1% in July and are up 10.9% over last year. Take-home grocery prices rose at a rate of 1.3% for the month and 13.1% for the year. The index for shelter climbed 0.5% in the past month and 5.7% for the year.