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- Inflation surged in October, hurting Americans' wallets amid a supply-chain crisis.
- While most workers are worse off, those in lower-paid industries, like hospitality, have actually seen wage growth.
- Biden said his Build Back Better agenda will help curb price increases.
The data shows that Americans are getting slammed by inflation. The truth is more complicated.
This Wednesday's inflation report showed prices climbing at the fastest rate since 1990. Inflation is so high, in other words, that workers' wage gains have been more than canceled out by it.
But that's just the average wage. If you look closely at the data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, lower-paid workers have actually gotten a raise in 2021.
As Insider's Ben Winck and Andy Kiersz reported, high inflation proved sticky in October due to shipping delays and a supply-chain crisis that's left firms unable to match American spending, which hasn't faltered thanks to pandemic stimulus and pent up demand. Rising prices are mostly hurting American workers.
As the Washington Post's Heather Long wrote on Twitter, workers in lower-paid industries like hospitality are seeing wages actually rising and growing faster than inflation.
-Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) November 10, 2021
Businesses have been struggling to hire during the pandemic, particularly in lower-paid industries like leisure and hospitality. To counter the labor shortage, some restaurants, like McDonald's, have raised their starting wages during the pandemic to attract more workers. In the October jobs report, hospitality gained the largest share of jobs, at 164,000.
Wages and salaries for leisure and hospitality grew by 2.8% from the first to second quarter of 2021, and while lower-wage industries are still 5.5% below pre-pandemic levels, pay in the sector is continuing to grow.
Inflation undoubtedly remains a concern. President Joe Biden acknowledged in a Wednesday statement that reversing rising prices in the country is a "top priority" for him, and he believes passing his Build Back Better agenda is key to making that happen.
"17 Nobel Prize winners in economics have said that my plan will 'ease inflationary pressures,'" Biden said. "And my plan does this without raising taxes on those making less than $400,000 or adding to the federal debt, by requiring the wealthiest and big corporations to start to pay their fair share in taxes."
While the White House believes this inflation is temporary, though, Insider reported that price growth is accelerating in nearly every corner of the economy, an ominous sign. Inflation has been higher than expected much of this year, but price rises across the board were a new feature in October, and hint at more pain to come.