WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – For Americans to maintain the same standard of living they did at the start of 2021, they need to make an extra $11,000 this year.
According to an examination of government data, the average American household will need to spend $11,434 more in 2023 to maintain that standard of living due to skyrocketing inflation, CBS News reported.
Although the rate of inflation has somewhat decreased since 2021 when it reached its greatest point in forty years, a September CBS News poll revealed that many American households are experiencing worse financial hardships now than they were before the pandemic.
According to the poll, 47% of Americans say they cannot live comfortably and have little money left over after paying their bills. This is a decrease from 56% who said the same thing in 2019. In the meantime, up from 44% in 2019, more than half of Americans, or 53%, claim they either have too little money or cannot pay their bills.
The Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity research also conducted a study that shows that last year’s revenue shortfall for necessities such as food and electricity was on average close to $14,000. According to the estimate, over 60% of Americans in 2022 will not meet their fundamental necessities.
“A gap exists and that’s what I think workers are telling us,” Bankrate Analyst Sarah Foster told CBS MoneyWatch. “Their incomes have come up and they are reaping the benefits of the job market, but prices have gone up even more so they’re still playing this game of catch-up,” she said.
This CBS analysis follows reports that the average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people increased by 14.7% in 2022 compared to $53.31 and by a staggering 25% in 2019 to $48.91. For the second year in a row, Halloween candy prices increased by double digits this year, rising 13% since October of last year.
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