Great Lakes Wire

Michigan families continue to make stark decisions involving finances that continue to be compromised due to inflation.

With -3.4% wage inflation for August 2022, Michigan's average household income has seen a -$3,361 year-over-year loss, bringing the state's current average household income down from $98,869 to $95,508 a year.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), real average hourly earnings for all employees declined 2.8%, seasonally adjusted, from August 2021 to August 2022. The change in real average hourly earnings combined with a decrease of 0.6% in the average workweek resulted in a 3.4% decrease in real average weekly earnings in the last year.

"Average hourly pay in America **adjusted for inflation** is -2.8% in the past year. Inflation has been eating up wage gains since April 2021 and shows little sign of significant easing," Washington Post columnist Heather Long wrote on Twitter.

Last week, the BLS released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the 12 months ending August 2022. The data showed an 8.3% all items annual increase, which represents a 0.1% rise from last month, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Some of the largest contributors were increases in the indexes for housing, food and medical care.

Food prices rose another 0.8% in August and are up 11.4% over last year. Take-home grocery prices rose 0.7% for the month and 13.5% in the past 12 months. The index for shelter climbed 0.7% in the last month and 6.2% in the last year. The medical care index rose 0.7% in August after rising 0.4% in July.

Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas and current Fox News contributor, took to Twitter to put the latest CPI number into perspective: "8.3% inflation means your salary is about 1/12 gone. If you make same pay as last year, higher prices robbed you a full month of your pay. If you buy same things this year as last year, inflation is trying to pay for it with 11 months’ worth of pay instead of 12 months’ worth."