Gas, food prices surging amid inflation tantrum: Can wages keep up?
Economists warn inflation getting worse despite ‘positive’ jobs report
University of Chicago Professor Austan Goolsbee and former Trump economic adviser Steve Moore warn rising consumer and oil prices will hurt wages and consumer confidence.
While economists react to the "flat-out great" January jobs report, they’re also wondering whether wages can keep up with worsening inflation.
"The bad news is that if you look at what's happening right now with the inflation," former Trump economic adviser Steve Moore said on "America’s Newsroom." "There's no signs that it's receding."
Both Moore and University of Chicago Professor Austan Goolsbee agreed that rising oil and food prices are starting to weigh heavily on consumer confidence.
"Gas prices being such a public price have outsized their share of our budgets, what we spend," Goolsbee told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer, "they have an outsized impact on consumer confidence."
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"In fact, it looks like it's getting worse," Moore added. "I mean, oil hit $90 a barrel. That's the equivalent of paying about $4 to $4.50 a gallon."
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh argues that payrolls in January rising by 467,000 is a 'very transparent number' even though the benchmark had been revised, which he acknowledged is 'part of' the reason why job growth blew past expectations.
Though the January jobs report blasted past expectations by adding 467,000 payrolls to the U.S. economy, prices at the gas pump hit a seven-year high and the Consumer Price Index marked its largest increase since 1982.
"I don't think that in the immediate term, gas prices are going to come down much," Goolsbee pointed out.
"And you see food prices rising," Moore said, "so I do worry about this inflation problem."
The overall "positive" jobs report still paves the way for economic recovery after the pandemic, Moore and Goolsbee maintained.
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University of Chicago professor Austan Goolsbee and former Trump economic adviser Steve Moore says there’s not much to complain about the January jobs report.
"By the end of this summer," Goolsbee predicted, "we could be in the job market fully back to where we were before the pandemic began."
Moore concluded: "This is one of those rare occasions when Austan and I agree that these are really good numbers."