As North Carolinians deal with high inflation rates, their buying power has dropped by $1,474 annually. | Adobe Stock
As North Carolinians deal with high inflation rates, their buying power has dropped by $1,474 annually. | Adobe Stock
It's no stretch to admit your paycheck isn't going as far as it used to, but it might surprise you that inflation is resulting in a loss of buying power of $1,474 for average North Carolinians.
Inflation rates and a decrease in real average earnings have created a perfect storm that makes it more of a struggle to pay for necessities.
"Imagine being a young family right now, rent for a two-bedroom home went up 22% in the last year," Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) tweeted this week. "Imagine being retired, with 8.5% inflation, your purchasing power has been significantly diminished."
On April 12, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the 12 months ending with March 2022. The data showed an 8.5% all-items annual increase, which is the largest increase since 1981—over 40 years.
Meanwhile, real average hourly earnings decreased 0.8% from February to March, the BLS report said. Earnings dropped 2.7%, seasonally adjusted, from March 2021 to March 2022.
With wages decreasing 2.7% for March 2022, the median household income in the state of North Carolina has experienced $1,474 year-over-year drop, reducing the current average household income to $54,602 a year; a recent World Population Review report said.
The BLS report showed that increases in the gasoline, shelter and food indexes were the largest contributors to the seasonally adjusted all-items increase. The gasoline index rose 18.3% in March, accounting for more than half of the all-items monthly increase.
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