Families in Texas and across the country are feeling the pressure as inflation is the highest its ever been in four decades and wage increases struggle to keep up.
The latest inflation rise for the month of March has been announced as 8.5%, the largest year-over-year increase since 1981. National year-over-year wage increases are now at -2.7%.
On April 12, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the 12 months ending March 2022. The data showed an 8.5% all items annual increase, which is the largest increase in over 40 years, since 1981.
At the same time, BLS numbers showed that real average hourly earnings decreased 0.8% from February to March, and dropped 2.7%, seasonally adjusted, from March 2021 to March 2022.
With the -2.7% wage inflation for March 2022, the national median household income has seen a -$2,001 year-over-year loss, bringing the current average household income to $74,099 a year, according to World Population Review.
"Imagine being a young family right now, rent for a two-bedroom home went up 22% in the last year," Dr. Roger Marshall U.S. Senator for Kansas wrote in an April 12 Twitter post. "Imagine being retired, with 8.5% inflation, your purchasing power has been significantly diminished."
Seniors living on a fixed income have been especially vulnerable to inflation. According to the Elder Index, a cost-of-living measure created by the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts, about half of older people who live alone are struggling to get by on less than $27,000 a year — or the bare minimum for a single renter in good health to cover expenses.
According to the BLS, increases in the gasoline, shelter, and food indexes were the largest contributors to the seasonally adjusted all items increase. In March, the gasoline index rose 18.3% and accounted for over half of the all items monthly increase. The food index rose 1.0% and the food at home index rose 1.5%. In the last 12 months, the index for food at home rose 10% and energy rose 38%.