Latest / Wages and Prices with Fexingo: Cost of Living, Pay Raises, and Workers' Purchasing Power
How Your Raise Is Finally Beating the Cost of Dining Out
In this episode of Wages and Prices, Lucas and Luna dig into a surprising shift: after years of menu price inflation outpacing wage growth, the tide is turning. With the latest data showing average hourly earnings up to $37.50 while the core CPI for food away from home has moderated, workers in some metro areas now have more real purchasing power at restaurants than they did in 2023. Lucas breaks down how menu pricing strategies—from dynamic surcharges to shrinkflation on portions—interact with wage gains, and Luna points out that the 'tipflation' trend is eating into that raise…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.