The latest inflation rise for the month ending August 2022 has been announced as 8.3%. | Hanson Lu Unsplash
The latest inflation rise for the month ending August 2022 has been announced as 8.3%. | Hanson Lu Unsplash
The latest inflation rise for August has been announced as 8.3%. Although it is marginally down from July, necessity prices continue their upward trend.
National year-over-year real average wage earnings are also down 3.4%, causing erosion in Georgia's average household income.
"Average hourly pay in America **adjusted for inflation** is -2.8% in the past year. Inflation has been eating up wage gains since April 2021 and shows little sign of significant easing," Washington Post columnist Heather Long said on Twitter.
With a -3.4% wage inflation for August, Georgia's average household income has seen a -$3,049 year-over-year loss, bringing the state's current average household income down from $89,679 to $86,630 a year.
On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index data for the 12 months ending August 2022. The data showed an 8.3% all-items annual increase, which represents a 0.1% rise from July, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Some of the largest contributors were increases in the indexes for shelter, food and medical care.
According to the BLS, real average hourly earnings for all employees declined 2.8%, seasonally adjusted, from August 2021 to August 2022. The change in real average hourly earnings, combined with a decrease of 0.6% in the average workweek, resulted in a 3.4% decrease in real average weekly earnings in the last year.
Among other data, food prices rose another 0.8% in August and are up 11.4% over last year. Take-home grocery prices rose 0.7% in August and 13.5% in the past 12 months. The index for shelter climbed 0.7% and 6.2% in the last year. The medical care index rose 0.7% in August after rising 0.4% in July.
Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas Governor and Fox News contributor, took to Twitter to put the latest CPI number into perspective.
"8.3% inflation means your salary is about 1/12 gone. If you make (the) same pay as last year, higher prices robbed you a full month of your pay. If you buy (the) same things this year as last year, inflation is trying to pay for it with 11 months’ worth of pay instead of 12 months’ worth," Huckabee wrote in his tweet.
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