# data[].attributes.body
finding jobs is getting increasingly difficult because many employers ask for more specific requirements/experience than they did in other generations

# data[].attributes.body
Raising the minimum wage would help people keep up with the effects of inflation

# data[].attributes.body
why does inflation happen in general? what causes it?

# data[].attributes.headline
Is inflation specifically higher/harder to deal with in specific places?

# data[].attributes.subject
Is inflation specifically higher/harder to deal with in specific places?

# data[].attributes.body
Can we learn anything from places with less struggles with inflation?

# data[].attributes.body
how does inflation contribute/correlate to homelessness/poverty?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Area prices rose 0.9 percent in December and January, up 5.3 percent over the year

Prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), rose 0.9 percent for the two months ending in January 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the all items less food and energy index advanced 1.1 percent, largely driven by increases in the indexes for shelter and recreation. The energy index fell 0.2 percent, almost entirely due to a decline in gasoline prices. The food index experienced no change over the two-month period. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 5.3 percent. The index for all items less food and energy increased 6.2 percent over the year, while food prices rose 4.4 percent. Energy prices fell 1.7 percent, entirely due to a decline in the price of gasoline. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Food prices were unchanged for the two months ending in January. A decline in prices for food at home (-0.3 percent) was entirely offset by a rise in prices for food away from home (+0.3 percent). The largest contributor to the decline in the food at home index came from the meats, poultry, fish, and eggs index (-0.6 percent).

Over the year, food prices increased 4.4 percent. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) advanced 7.3 percent. The index for food at home (grocery store prices) rose 2.2 percent since a year ago, with all six major grocery store food group indexes contributing.

The energy index fell 0.2 percent for the two months ending in January. The decrease was primarily due to lower prices for gasoline (-1.0 percent), but the index for electricity also contributed, declining 0.1 percent. Partially offsetting the decrease in the energy index, prices for natural gas service rose 2.2 percent over the two-month period.

From January 2023 to January 2024, energy prices fell 1.7 percent, entirely due to lower prices for gasoline (-6.2 percent). Partially offsetting the decline, the index for electricity rose 2.2 percent, and prices for natural gas service advanced 1.6 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.1 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for recreation (+4.0 percent), medical care services, and owners' equivalent rent of residences (+0.5 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for new and used motor vehicles (-2.7 percent), medical care commodities, and education and communication (-1.3 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 6.2 percent. Components contributing to the increase included owners' equivalent rent of residences (+6.8 percent), rent of primary residence (+5.6 percent), and recreation (+7.0 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases for medical care commodities, household furnishings and operations (-2.2 percent), and used cars and trucks (-2.9 percent).
The March 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, April 10, 2024.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes CPIs for two population groups: (1) a CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) which covers approximately 93 percent of the total U.S. population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 29 percent of the total U.S. population. The CPI-U includes, in addition to wage earners and clerical workers, groups such as professional, managerial, and technical workers, the self-employed, short-term workers, the unemployed, and retirees and others not in the labor force.

The CPI is based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and the other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. Each month, prices are collected in 75 urban areas across the country from about 6,000 housing units and approximately 22,000 retail establishments-department stores, supermarkets, hospitals, filling stations, and other types of stores and service establishments. All taxes directly associated with the purchase and use of items are included in the index.

The index measures price changes from a designated reference date; for most of the CPI-U the reference base is 1982-84 equals 100. An increase of 7 percent from the reference base, for example, is shown as 107.000. Alternatively, that relationship can also be expressed as the price of a base period market basket of goods and services rising from $100 to $107. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the CPI section of the BLS Handbook of Methods available on the internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cpi/.

In calculating the index, price changes for the various items in each location are averaged together with weights that represent their importance in the spending of the appropriate population group. Local data are then combined to obtain a U.S. city average. Because the sample size of a local area is smaller, the local area index is subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error than the national index. In addition, local indexes are not adjusted for seasonal influences. As a result, local area indexes show greater volatility than the national index, although their long-term trends are quite similar. NOTE: Area indexes do not measure differences in the level of prices between cities; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, Core Based Statistical Area includes the counties of Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant, and Wise.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Consumer Price Index, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area - January 2024

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), rose 0.9 percent in October and November, up 5.2 percent over the year.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Inflation-adjusted income fell and a key poverty measure rose sharply last year as the U.S. economy continued its rocky emergence from a once-in-a-century pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau reported on Tuesday.

The income and poverty data released by the Census showed how deeply the country's recent economic outcomes were influenced by the COVID-19 health crisis and the government response to it -- with a measure of child poverty more than doubling following the expiry of pandemic-era child tax credits last year, and the worst inflation in 40 years undercutting household spending power.

The child poverty rate, based on a supplemental measure that adjusts for government benefits and household expenses, jumped to 12.4% in 2022 from 5.2% in 2021.

Overall the supplemental poverty rate rose to 12.4% in 2022 from 7.8% in 2021, a change Census officials said was also driven largely by the expiration of pandemic-era programs.

Compared to 2019, before the pandemic, the overall supplemental rate was slightly higher than the 11.8% seen in 2019. The so-called official poverty rate was largely unchanged from 2021 at 11.5%.

Family incomes, meanwhile, largely failed to keep up with a 7.8% jump in consumer prices that was the largest since 1981.

Real median household income fell by 2.3% to $76,330, which Census officials said was about 4.7% below 2019.

The data cast into sharp focus issues likely to be at the front of voters' minds when they cast votes in the November 2024 elections, when U.S. President Joe Biden is seeking a second term.

Some 52% of Americans say they disapprove of the president's performance overall, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, and voters rate the economy as their top issue, opens new tab .

In a statement on the social media platform X, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, said "skyrocketing inflation" is "hurting our families." A White House official noted the Census report did not take into account the fact that the rate of inflation has eased in 2023.

"Today's Census report shows the dire consequences of congressional Republicans' refusal to extend the enhanced Child Tax Credit, even as they advance costly corporate tax cuts," Biden said in a statement.

POST-PANDEMIC WORLD

The report offers one of the first clear glimpses of how the economy fared coming out of a health shock that shuttered stores and factories in 2020 and continued to stifle activity through much of 2021. The performance of the U.S. economy continues to confound, with stronger-than-expected growth despite rising Federal Reserve interest rates, yet with inflation still elevated as well.

The current unemployment rate of 3.8% is comparable to what it was in 2019, and Census officials noted that some aspects of the economy appear stronger than before -- with record numbers of women in the workforce, for example, and a poverty rate among Black Americans which, while far higher than the national average at 17.1%, hit a record low last year.

Household income also rose slightly for African American and Hispanic-headed households, while declining for others.

The changes in U.S. job patterns coming out of the pandemic, when the competition for labor was fierce among restaurant and other service businesses desperate for employees, also benefited lower-income and less educated workers. Inflation-adjusted median income rose 6.4% for households whose head did not graduate high school even as it fell for those with high school or college degrees.

But even some of the positive points continued to be distorted by the pandemic.

On a pre-tax basis, the United States last year registered a 1.2% decline in income inequality as lower- income workers registered slight wage increases while real incomes dropped for middle and upper-income earners. It was the first statistically significant drop in income inequality since 2007.

Yet the expiry of pandemic-era refundable tax credits offset that, with income inequality on an after-tax basis rising more than 3%.

The report also showed that 92.1% of Americans were covered by health insurance for at least part of 2022, higher than the 91.7% the year prior.

Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Susan Heavey and Rami Ayyub in Washington; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Aurora Ellis, Andrea Ricci and David Gregorio

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Covers the U.S. Federal Reserve, monetary policy and the economy, a graduate of the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University with previous experience as a foreign correspondent, economics reporter and on the local staff of the Washington Post.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
US inflation eroded 2022 wages, as child poverty jumped, Census says

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Inflation-adjusted income fell and a key poverty measure rose sharply last year as the U.S. economy continued its rocky emergence from a once-in-a-century pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau reported on Tuesday.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why buying a house in the US is so hard right now

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How inflation is impacting three Texas industries

# data[].attributes.headline
How does inflation impact local texas staples?

# data[].attributes.subject
How does inflation impact local texas staples?

# data[].attributes.headline
how does inflation affect teens in high schools?

# data[].attributes.subject
how does inflation affect teens in high schools?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Americans paying the price for rising inflation from the grocery store to housing market

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sunday Edition: Welcome to Inflation Nation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to this episode from CNN 5 Things on Spotify. If it seems like everyday items from gasoline to groceries are costing more these days, it's because they are. A government report released last week showed consumer price inflation reaching levels not seen in 30 years.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As the US economy gradually recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, prices are rising across the board with inflation exceeding the Federal Reserve's 2% target and reaching a 13-year high in June. Republicans have turned that jump in inflation into a political talking point, trying to place the blame on President Joe Biden and Democrats, andat times misrepresenting the current economic landscape in the process.

In mid-July, Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy tweeted, "Inflation is running rampant due in part to out-of-control spending from President Biden and Speaker Pelosi."

About two weeks later, the chair of the House Republican Conference, Rep. Elise Stefanik, went a step further in blaming Democrats, saying in a press conference that "inflation is skyrocketing because of Democrats reckless and wasteful spending" and "this rampant inflation is a result of Democrats reckless tax and spend policies."

Later that day, in an interview with Newsmax, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz suggested Republicans should not support Democrat-led initiatives that call for more spending and cited Biden's several trillion dollar proposed budget, claiming "when it comes to spending, spending trillions is what is driving inflation."

On Monday, Rep. Jim Jordan tweeted that Democrats "spend trillions of dollars. Then ignore inflation."

Facts First: While some economists say the stimulus packages passed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic are having an impact on inflation, it's misleading to suggest that's the only explanation for the recent rise in inflation. Blaming it exclusively on Democratic spending proposals misrepresents what's actually been passed, and ignores the trillions of dollars in spending passed last year supported by Republicans and signed by then-President Donald Trump which economists say have also contributed to inflation.

Last year, Congress passed two bills totaling around $3 trillion in Covid relief spending - the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act passed in March 2020, and the $ 900 billion pandemic relief bill passed in December 2020. Both were signed by Trump and supported by Republicans. The economic stimulus packages, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan signed by Biden in March 2021, which contained at least one tax credit program which is already in effect, have contributed to inflationary pressures but are not the only reason behind the spike, experts say.

"Inflationary pressures are arising from a variety of factors: supply chain issues, the reopening of the economy, over $2 trillion of excess household savings, accommodative monetary policy, President Trump's $900 billion December stimulus, and the President's $1.9 trillion stimulus," said Michael Strain, Director of Economic Policy Studies for conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute.

Jason Furman, the Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, noted that the stimulus checks included in all three Covid relief packages, not the tax credits in the American Rescue Plan, were likely responsible for any impact on inflation those policies had.

"The tax credit's relatively small compared to the economy as a whole," Furman said. "If you want to call the checks a tax policy, yes I think that did contribute to inflation."

Furman, a Democrat who previously worked for the Obama administration, acknowledged that the American Rescue Plan has contributed somewhat to inflation, but said, "I think the biggest thing that's contributed to inflation is just restarting an economy," something other countries recovering from the pandemic have also experienced.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, told CNN that "The jump in inflation has nothing to do with tax and spending policies."

According to Zandi, inflation is being temporarily driven by "a one-time adjustment in prices" following a decrease last spring when the pandemic erupted, supply chain constraints which have limited production and an increase in demand as the economy reopens.

"Businesses that slashed prices during the height of the pandemic, such as hotels, airlines, rental car companies, etc. are simply raising prices back to where they were pre-pandemic," Zandi said, adding that, "the supply-side of the economy has lagged demand as the pandemic continues to struggle with scrambled global supply chains."

According to Zandi, "All of this will be sorted out in coming months, supply will catch up with demand, and inflation will moderate."

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who was nominated by Trump, also expressed confidence that the rise in inflation is temporary.

In testimony to the House Financial Services committee on July 14, Powell said he expects these "rapid" price hikes to "partially reverse" as bottlenecks ease in certain sectors . And in a press conference on July 28, he said, "We think that inflation should move down over time," but that "it's hard to say when that will be."

According to a report from the Commerce Department released Friday, one key inflation indicator rose in June slightly less than anticipated, though it still represented the biggest gain in 30 years.

Future Inflation

The tax aspect of Republican criticism of Democratic "tax and spend policies" likely refers more to proposed policies which have yet to be passed or enacted. A few Republicans, including Jordan and Sen. Rob Portman, are claiming that those future policies, such as the initial infrastructure bill Democrats proposed which Biden says would be paid for largely through taxes, would further increase inflation.

However, economic experts suggest the impact would likely be minimal.

"I think to a first approximation the forward looking proposals would have very little impact on inflation because they're spread out over time and give the Fed a lot of time to react and are mostly paid for," Furman said.

Compared to the American Rescue Plan which Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst for the Tax Foundation, said was mostly funded through deficit spending, Biden's proposed infrastructure plan "would be partially offset by tax increases, which would mitigate the inflationary impact," Watson told CNN.

"How much this spending would increase inflation depends on two uncertainties: (1) how close the economy is to full capacity over the next few years without the additional spending, and (2) how much additional supply the spending itself generates," Watson said, adding that the latter is a point White House advisors make to explain why they are not as worried about the plan's inflationary impact.

Though it's possible some of Biden's proposed taxes increases for the wealthy and corporations make it into the reconciliation bill, it's worth noting that no tax increases are included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill that the Senate is currently considering.

According to Furman, the Republican argument that Democrat-supported tax policies will contribute to inflation makes little sense.

"It's bizarre. The tax changes the Democrats are proposing are tax increases so if anything, you'd think that would reduce inflation," Furman said. "In general you think tax cuts are inflationary and tax increases are you know deflationary, so I think it's sort of strange because I think Republicans aren't trying to accuse Democrats of being big tax cutters but if you think taxes are causing inflation it's like you're accusing the Democrats of cutting taxes by too much."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Fact-checking Republican attempts to blame inflation on Democrats | CNN Politics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As the US economy gradually recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, prices are rising across the board with inflation exceeding the Federal Reserve's 2% target and reaching a 13-year high in June. Republicans have turned that jump in inflation into a political talking point, trying to place the blame on President Joe Biden and Democrats, and at times misrepresenting the current economic landscape in the process.

# data[].attributes.body
Will inflation affect Texas teen's and young adults' ability to get a stable future life?