Latest / Wages and Prices with Fexingo: Cost of Living, Pay Raises, and Workers' Purchasing Power
Why Your Raise Is Finally Beating the Cost of College Textbooks
Episode 78 of Wages and Prices tackles a surprising victory for workers: textbook costs. While college tuition keeps climbing, the price of course materials has actually fallen 12 percent over the past five years, thanks to digital rentals, open educational resources, and a shift in how publishers sell. Lucas breaks down the data — average hourly earnings are up 2.4 percent year-over-year, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics' educational books and supplies index dropped 3.2 percent in 2025 alone. Luna asks whether this is a genuine win or a temporary blip, and they explore how the rise…
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