{"id":220402,"date":"2026-08-13T04:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/inflation-remained-stubborn-in-july-as-wages-slowed-for-workers-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T04:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:20:15","slug":"inflation-remained-stubborn-in-july-as-wages-slowed-for-workers-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/inflation-remained-stubborn-in-july-as-wages-slowed-for-workers-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Inflation remained stubborn in July as wages slowed for workers – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

news Alerts
There are no new alerts at this time
Inflation as measured by the consumer price index rose 0.1% from June to July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday, showing that costs broadly remained elevated for consumers amid volatile energy prices.
From a year ago, inflation dropped slightly to 3.4% from 3.5%.
But in a troubling sign for consumers, it remains above the rate of wage growth, which as of last month was pacing at 3.2%<\/a>, according to the BLS. Average hourly earnings slipped 0.2% from a year earlier, as well, the agency said Wednesday.
Inflation has been wiping out wage gains for the past four months, Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote on X. <\/strong>
\u201cFor middle-income and lower-income Americans, this is the key issue,\u201d Long wrote. \u201cThere will likely be some belt-tightening ahead.\u201d
Energy prices, which are the primary cause of inflation\u2019s spike this year, have moved higher as the war with Iran shows no sign of ending soon.
Gasoline prices in Wednesday\u2019s report showed a 2.9% decline during the month, although that is likely in the rearview mirror now. The price of electricity was nearly unchanged month over month, rising 0.1%.
Brent crude oil hit $90 earlier Wednesday morning, while U.S. crude oil rose to almost $84 per barrel. The national regular gas price average also rose Wednesday, once again hitting $4.03 per gallon<\/a>.
The report showed that the price of medical care, airline fares, communication, education and recreation all increased in the month. However, the cost of motor vehicle insurance was \u201camong the major indexes that decreased,\u201d the BLS said.
The BLS also said that shelter costs rose 0.1% in July, \u201caccounting for roughly two-thirds of the monthly all items increase.\u201d The \u201cindex for food also increased 0.1% over the month, as the index for food away from home increased 0.3%,\u201d it said. That index measures the cost to eat out or purchase takeaway food.
Even before Wednesday\u2019s figures, some notable Federal Reserve officials were already calling for a rate hike. The Fed has kept rates unchanged since the United States and Israel launched the Iran war, even as other central banks in Europe and Japan have raised rates.
\u201cNow is the time to act,\u201d Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack wrote Tuesday on LinkedIn<\/a>. \u201cThe longer we wait to take action to bring inflation back to our 2 percent objective, the more challenging it will be to bring it back down and the more expensive it will be for the American people,\u201d she added.
Economists and analysts are split over whether a hike is coming, though.
\u201cOverall, this data supports our view that the Fed will remain on hold in the near term,\u201d said Truist head of U.S. economics Mike Skordeles.
Still, he noted, there is a lot of data to come, including jobs and CPI reports for August, before the Fed\u2019s next rate decision in mid-September.
Steve Kopack is a senior reporter at NBC News covering business and the economy.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeInflation as measured by the consumer price index rose 0.1% from June to July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday, showing that costs broadly remained elevated for consumers amid volatile energy prices.From a year ago, inflation dropped slightly to 3.4% from 3.5%. But in a troubling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":220403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}