Finance advisor says living wage is impacted by inflation

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Inflation is squeezing a lot of our wallets pretty tight and although we’re all spending more money, most of us aren’t receiving more money.

MIT created a living wage calculator that you can use to compare your current hourly wage with the poverty and living wage. Whether there are one or two people working in a household, or even zero to three children, the numbers change.

On the website, the calculator is described as: “The living wage shown is the hourly rate that an individual in a household must earn to support his or herself and their family. The assumption is the sole provider is working full-time (2080 hours per year). The tool provides information for individuals, and households with one or two working adults and zero to three children. In the case of households with two working adults, all values are per working adult, single or in a family unless otherwise noted.”

In Jefferson County, for one adult with no children, they say a stable living wage is $17.40 per hour. For one adult with three children, it jumps over $30 to $50.11 per hour.

Because data is updated annually, the inflation hike might not included in the numbers.

Marshall Clay, a senior adviser with The Welch Group, says when inflation is prevalent like it is now, living wages can be severely impacted. He says even if you get a normal raise each year, it’s not keeping up with inflation prices.

Clay says nationally, the latest inflation percentage from July was 8.5%, but wages and salaries have only increased by 5.2%.

“Even if you’re nominally receiving a 5.2% raise at your particular job, you still feel like you’re falling behind because those everyday goods and services -- food, gasoline, everything else -- is escalating at a higher pace than your wage is,” said Clay. He says that’s why people across the nation are feeling tight wallets right now.

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