Americans are continuing to struggle in the face of high inflation, as wages do not keep pace. Inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings fell 2.7% when compared to the prior month earlier. This was a 12th straight decline.
This was the most US consumer prices rose since 1981. A painfully high cost of living continues to pressure the Federal Reserve chairs to aggressively act.
Gasoline costs made up half of the monthly increase, food was the other big factor. Americans paid more for nearly every important food product at the supermarket.
Services costs ballooned 5.1% for the biggest single advance since 1991.
Shelter costs, which include rents and hotel stays, rose 0.5% for a second straight month. Household furnishings/supplies increased 1% in February. Furnishings and operations increased 10.1% compared to a year earlier. This was the single biggest increase since 1975.
Price pressures for household goods, apparel, vehicles and other items showed signs of cooling in March, as companies built up extra inventories of products in storerooms and warehouses and shortages abated.
Waiters, hotel maids, and other nonmanagement employees in leisure and hospitality have seen their pay rise by nearly 15 percent over the past year, well ahead of inflation.
Used car prices have been a massive focus for consumers in recent months. Prices were down 3.8% from March. This now makes two straight months of declines for used cars. Due to the supply chain and chip crisis new car prices actually rose slightly.
The war in Ukraine contributed to serious increases in the energy prices in this report. Costs went up 11% from the month prior. This is the biggest increase since 2005.
In recent years, gasoline and utility costs as a share of income averaged 28 percent for households in the bottom fifth of earners, according to research conducted by economists at Deutsche Bank using government data. According to estimates from National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, those expenses as a share of income have probably jumped to 33.5 percent.
Natural gas expenses increased to about $800 from $573; heating oil climbed to $1,900 from about $1,200; and propane rose to about $1,600 from $1,158.
The price to ship a 40-foot container from China to the West Coast of the United States was $15,817 as of Friday, up from $5,893 one year ago and from $1,584 at the same time in 2019, according to data from Freightos, a freight-tracking firm.
In the eurozone, the annual inflation rate jumped to 7.5 percent in March, up from 5.9 percent the previous month. In Japan, Last month, a government survey of consumers’ one-year inflation expectations rose to 2.7 percent, the highest since 2014.
Consumers spent an estimated $8.8 billion on domestic flights last month, according to the Adobe analysis, which was released on Tuesday.
About two million people, on average, have been boarding flights, including international departures, each day in U.S. airports since mid-March, according to security screening data from the Transportation Security Administration. That’s roughly a 10 percent decline from a similar period in 2019. Fares for domestic flights booked in March were 20 percent higher than in the same month in 2019, according to an analysis by the Adobe Digital Economy Index, which draws on online sales from six of the top 10 U.S. airlines.