Groceries are more affordable now than in 2019.

BS


Groceries are more affordable now than in 2019. So why are prices still such a hot-button issue?

For the average worker, grocery prices are about as affordable as they were pre-pandemic. But the costs are still a sore spot for consumers — and a focus in the 2024 election.






By one measure, groceries are back at pre-pandemic levels of affordability. But it might not feel that way.
Photo: MarketWatch photo illustration/iStockphoto
For more than two years now, higher prices have been pinching consumers’ wallets and testing their patience — but there’s at least one part of their monthly budget that has more breathing room these days: For the average U.S. worker, it now takes fewer hours of work to afford a week’s worth of groceries than it did five years ago, in August 2019.

That’s according to a MarketWatch analysis of wage and inflation data that shows how the price of food relative to wages has fluctuated in recent years.



In other words: Despite substantial postpandemic increases in food costs, wages have now more than caught up with prices in this crucial spending category. And it’s easier for the average American worker to put food on the table than it was a couple of years ago.

LINK