Many seniors rely on fixed incomes and limited savings to cover monthly costs for prolonged and unpredictable periods. | Unsplash/Matt Bennett
Many seniors rely on fixed incomes and limited savings to cover monthly costs for prolonged and unpredictable periods. | Unsplash/Matt Bennett
The latest national inflation number now sits at 8.5% and as the economy continues to worsen in Georgia and across the nation, retirees living on a fixed income are feeling the pinch worse than a lot of Americans with current predictions saying they'll be forced to find another source of income.
On April 12, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the 12 months ending March 2022. The data showed an 8.5% all items annual increase, which is the largest increase since 1981.
While rising prices are squeezing Americans' household budgets in every state, an additional strain is being placed on an estimated 56 million residents age 65 and older, according to The Washington Post. Many of these seniors rely on fixed incomes and limited savings to cover monthly costs for prolonged and unpredictable periods.
According to the Elder Index, a cost-of-living measure created by the Gerontology Institute at Boston's University of Massachusetts, about half of older people who live alone are struggling to get by on less than $27,000 a year — or the bare minimum for a single renter in good health to cover expenses.
“Any small change in circumstance — rising prices, a medical emergency — can throw an older person’s budget completely out of whack,” Jan Mutchler, director of the institute, told The Washington Post.
Rick Santelli, an editor for CNBC's Business News Network, emphasized on April 1 that inflation is hitting retirees right in the wallet: "Are the retirees going to un-retire? This is going to answer it, and the answer is yes."
On average, 13.5% of Georgia's population is 65 or older.
According to the BLS, real average hourly earnings decreased 0.8% from February to March, and dropped 2.7%, seasonally adjusted, from March 2021 to March 2022.
With the -2.7% wage inflation for March 2022, the median household income in the state of Arizona has seen a -$1,592 year-over-year loss, bringing the current average household income to $58,945 a year, according to World Population Review.
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