Surging Prices, Labor Shortages in America
America's economic challenges outweighed many positive factors, including the surging job growth and growing paychecks.
Americans are concerned about rising prices, labor shortage, and a gummed-up supply chain.
According to data obtained by the University of Michigan in early November, consumer sentiment hit a decade low. The source of the problem: pandemic-era inflation and concerns that no measures are in place to control it.
Consumers had also expected the labor shortfall and supply chain crisis to be handled by now.
In light of the holiday season, Americans are bracing for surging prices as well as long queues for their orders.
On one hand, there are rising wages, a steady labor market recovery, and shored-up savings that have kept people spending and the US economy going.
On the other hand, the economy's challenges outweighed many of the positive factors, including the surging job growth and growing paychecks.
"Sentiment has been shaken in recent months amid the more recent outbreak of Covid and dwindling stimulus, but the November fallout has inflation's name written all over it," said economists at Wells Fargo in a note.
In numbers, one in four people surveyed said inflation has made their living standards much worse. Despite higher paychecks, half of the respondents said they expect inflation to wipe out whatever wage gains they were given over the past year.