Seattle, WA
Inflation is hitting Seattle harder than most of the US
If the rising prices have felt disproportionate for the cities surrounding Puget Sound in comparison with the remainder of the US, that’s as a result of Seattle has the third-highest inflation within the nation, in accordance with the newest Shopper Value Index.
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“Nicely, in accordance with Jake Vigdor, College of Washington professor of public coverage and governance, the inflation we’re experiencing in Seattle is just not a neighborhood downside, however a worldwide one,” stated Christine Clarridge, a Seattle-based reporter who broke the story for Axios. “Right here in Seattle, we’re significantly being impacted by our very excessive minimal wage, which I believe is slightly counterintuitive. So with out sufficient folks to fill jobs, employers maintain having to lift their providing opening wage, and these are for entry-level jobs. And so once they’re having to pay greater than $20 for jobs they used to have the ability to pay $15 an hour. They’ve to lift the costs someplace.”
Clarridge tells KIRO Newsradio she expects the restaurant business to have essentially the most extreme rise in prices, with childcare and healthcare additionally anticipating vital jumps in costs.
“Whereas a few of our prices, like gasoline, are happening together with the remainder of the nation, we’re offset by the locations the place we’re not going to be launched,” Clarridge stated.
This domino impact is inflicting the value of products — like eggs, for instance — housing and vehicles to be steadily climbing all through the area.
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“I don’t know the reply to that. I don’t suppose different folks do both,” Clarridge stated relating to if the present costs are anticipated to go down anytime quickly. “Though there’s lots of hypothesis, in accordance with a number of the consultants I discuss to, the upper rates of interest are having an impact, they usually predict that in the midst of 2023, we’ll see leveling or some issues happening. However once more, Seattle often is the outlier.”
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