Federal jobs report shows decreasing inflation, positive job growth
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its February jobs report, and experts from the Texas A&M University Private Enterprise Research Center (PERC) say the economy is taking a positive step forward.
The report shows 275,000 jobs were added during February, and inflation rates are falling from a 9% high.
However, consumers are still battling high prices and less purchasing power overall.
“When I hear people complain that prices are still high, yeah, because they’re not going down,” Dennis Jansen, director of PERC, said.
According to Jansen, it’s not about prices getting lower. Rather, they’re rising at a slower rate.
“The price level going up to the businessman means they’re probably paying higher prices too. By the way, they got to pay higher rents too,” he added.
Local business owners like Shawn Henderson say they are still feeling the effects of high inflation.
“The wholesale cost, shipping, everything, everything rises snd so then it also has to rise for the customer too,” Henderson, owner of Grass Stains, said.
Although wages are starting to catch up, it’s going to take a while for them to return to their pre-pandemic growth rates.
“In the last year or so, wages have gone up a little faster than prices, but they still haven’t caught up to where they were three years ago,” Jansen said.
As a result, buying power hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, either.
“We get raises, but then prices go up faster than our raises,” he added.
For Henderson, the community is what’s keeping her feeling secure. She said it’s a “blessing” to be in a college town like College Station.
Job growth in Bryan and College Station has outpaced the national average, Jansen said.
