“Swift swings” takes a quick peek at one economic trend.
The number: Here’s a spooky hit to your wallet: The buying power of American wages has been cut by a candy bar in two years.
The source: My trusty spreadsheet looked at some Halloween-themed research from S&P Global Market Intelligence comparing candy costs and wages.
Quick analysis: The pay of an average US worker bought 15.2 candy bars an hour in 2023 – that’s a 4% drop from 15.9 bars in 2022 and off 7% from 16.3 in 2021.
The problem isn’t pay raises. Instead, it’s candy inflation, which is running 7.2% this year – and that’s an improvement over 14.2% a year ago. By the way, candy prices have risen at a 2.9% annual pace over the past 20 years.
Or look at the inflation hit another way with a sweet twist.
Americans will spend a record $30 billion on candy – 2% growth for the year and up 34% vs. 2015-19. But when adjusted for inflation, sales are down 4% from a year ago and up just 1% vs. 2015-19.
Sound bite: “After nearly a decade of red-hot sales, candy appears to have hit a sour patch,” says Michael Zdinak, the group’s economics director. “There’s no sugarcoating the fact that wages haven’t kept up with the jaw-breaking rise in candy prices, work in 2023 earns the average person a whole candy bar less per hour than it did in 2021.”
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
- REAL ESTATE NEWSLETTER: Get our free ‘Home Stretch’ by email. SUBSCRIBE HERE!
