{"id":8787,"date":"2022-09-16T16:40:10","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T20:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.realtyhop.com\/blog\/?p=8787"},"modified":"2022-09-16T16:40:10","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T20:40:10","slug":"us-inflation-august-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.realtyhop.com\/blog\/us-inflation-august-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Inflation Rises Slightly in August, Beating Out Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0<\/span>Consumer Price Index (CPI)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0continued to rise in August, though at a significantly reduced pace compared to previous months. Despite only increasing a slight 0.1%, inflation in August was still higher than most economists predicted. The Dow Jones estimates, for example, predicted that headline inflation would fall by 0.1%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While monthly inflation grew in August, annual inflation keeps ticking down. In June, annual inflation reached a\u00a0<\/span>high point of 9.1%<\/span><\/a>, the steepest annual inflation since the early 1980s. In July, annual inflation was 8.5% before dropping slightly to 8.3% in August.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS),\u00a0<\/span>average hourly earnings<\/span><\/a>\u00a0grew by 0.3% between July and August. Because inflation grew 0.1%, the real average hourly earnings for all employees was 0.2% from July to August, seasonally adjusted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The fact that real wage growth was positive in August is a good sign for American consumers and is a reversal from previous months. Real average hourly earnings fell 2.8% from August 2021 to August 2022, but a 0.6 percent decrease in average work hours means that the effective reduction in real average weekly earnings was 3.4%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Economists had predicted a more positive CPI report with negative inflation in August. As a result, experts largely reacted to the news with pessimism, despite significant monthly decreases in energy and gas prices.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“We were hoping for something more positive, but [the August data] is not,” Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at Loyola Marymount University and president of SS Economics,\u00a0<\/span>told Cnn<\/span><\/a>. “I think inflation is certainly alive and well. If you look at the underlying trend \u2014 I look at labor costs and rent increases \u2014 they both are pointing in the wrong direction and going up at hefty paces,” Sohn said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Learn more:<\/p>\n