Keystone Today

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released the Consumer Price Index data for the 12 months ending July 2022, and data has shown an 8.5% all items annual increase, which is a 0.6% drop from last month.

Some of the largest contributors were the indexes for food, shelter and electricity.

BLS data also showed that the real average hourly earnings for employees decreased 3% from July 2021 to July 2022, with a seasonal adjustment. The change in real average hourly earnings combined with a decrease of 0.6% in the average work week resulted in a 3.6% decrease in real average weekly earnings over that period.

For Pennsylvania, with a -3.6% wage inflation for July 2022, the average household income has seen a loss of $3,602 over the past year, Zippia data showed. This brings the state’s current average household income down to $96,454 per year.

President Joe Biden spoke on Twitter recently, boasting of 0% inflation for July. But the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Editorial Board elaborated.

“The slowdown came largely from volatile energy prices, which had soared in June," they said in a recent WSJ report. "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. 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."

Although energy prices waned slightly, prices across most of the rest of the economy continued their upward trend. 

Food prices increased 1.1% in July and are up 10.9% over the last year, the BLS said. Take-home grocery prices increased at a faster rate—1.3% for the month and 13.1% over the past year. The index for shelter went up 0.5% in the last month and 5.7% over the last year.