The real wages of Americans have fallen nearly 4% in the last year due to the record-breaking inflation crisis that has originated under Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration.
According to the newly released Consumer Price Index report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices rose 0.4% in September and 8.2% over the last year. Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose 0.6% in September and 6.6% over the past 12 months, the largest 12-month increase in that index since August 1982.
Due to the sky-high inflation rate, the real wages of American workers decreased in September, according to a separate report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Real average hourly earnings for all employees decreased 0.1 percent from August to September, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today,” the report said. “Real average hourly earnings decreased 3.0 percent, seasonally adjusted, from September 2021 to September 2022.”
“The change in real average hourly earnings combined with a decrease of 0.9 percent in the average workweek resulted in a 3.8-percent decrease in real average weekly earnings over this period,” the report added.
The news suggests that Americans will suffer even further as the Federal Reserve will likely issue additional interest rate hikes in order to bring inflation down.
“The Federal Reserve has made it very clear they’re committed to price stability, they’re committed to reducing the inflationary pressures,” said Michelle Meyer, chief U.S. economist at the Mastercard Economics Institute. “The more inflation comes in above expectations, the more they’re going to have to prove that commitment, which means higher interest rates and cooling in the underlying economy.”
In June, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned that the central bank was committed to bringing inflation down to their goal of two percent and that the process will “involve some pain” for Americans.
“We are committed to and will succeed in getting inflation down to two percent,” Powell said at the time. “The process is likely, highly likely to involve some pain, but the worst pain would be from failing to address this high inflation and allowing it to become persistent.”
