President Biden claims wages are going up. However, that’s not true for everyone.
A closer look at the third quarter numbers shows blue collar wages went down year-over-year. University of Houston economist Ed Hirs says the Delta variant slowing business (starting this past summer) is likely a factor. The bigger problem for working Americans, he says, is rising inflation.
“The shipping of goods and services is just behind,” Hirs said. “Shipping a container from China used to cost us an import of 6,500 dollars to get it to Denver. Today, it costs 30,000 dollars.”
Many Americans see the impact of supply chain problems and inflation when they go to the grocery store. Beef costs 20% more. Bacon is 20% more. Eggs are 12% more.
Hirs notes how the service sector, in particular, is still hurting.
“We lost hundreds of thousands of workers in the hospitality/restaurant business, and those workers are having to be bid back in with wage increases and so at this point it appears prices on the retail side have rebounded a lot faster,” he explained.
Rising costs are one factor that’s lead to an increase in labor strikes, as workers demand higher wages. Some are worried the trend could delve into a wage-price spiral that would trigger more inflation.