The July U.S. jobs report shows that 23,000 jobs were lost, yet the unemployment rate fell from 4.2% to 4.1%.
On Inside Erie Politics, Mike Ruzzi and Philip Ward spoke with Dr. Lonnie Golden, a professor of economics and labor-human resources at Penn State Abington, who explained how that can happen.
Golden said that while the U.S. economy is currently holding steady, Americans are not feeling that stability because of recent expectations.
“For many decades we lived with relatively low inflation and stable wage and salary increases and while those are still stable, prices are escalating beyond them,” Golden said.
Another reason why Americans are frustrated is wages and salaries are not keeping up with inflation.
“The income that is being generated is accumulating much more to the upper-income classes than to the lower and middle-income classes,” Golden said.
The latest Consumer Price Index report, traditionally used to track inflation will be released at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.