DATA: Inflation dropping nationally and in the Valley

While inflation is still high, numbers are falling, especially in Phoenix. ABC 15 data analyst Garrett Archer takes you inside the numbers on what's driving the Valley's inflation rate. More good news than bad news in the inflation report released Tuesday. The rate fell from 6.3 percent in January to 6 percent this past month. In fact, it's the seventh straight month inflation either declined or remained unchanged. So to the charts, U.

S. inflation rate really picked up at the beginning of 2021, hitting nearly 9 percent last June. Today, it's down 33 percent from that high. Also, the core inflation rate, this green line here, this includes volatile measures like food and energy, and that's unchanged from last month at 5.5 percent. You can see how much, in fact, energy prices played a role in inflation since the two lines are now moving closer together. So let's talk about Phoenix.

The Valley's inflation rate is updated every other month, and it fell a point from 9.5 to 8.5 percent, still a little higher than the nation's overall rate. But Phoenix does rank second behind Tampa, but they are updated on different months, so expect Tampa to move below Phoenix next month. So factors driving inflation in Phoenix. In addition, the inflation for most, it's rent and housing. Up 14.

1 percent. Food and beverage inflation is up nearly 10 percent, and services are up almost 12 percent. Not every category rose, though. Use cars and vehicles, those are dropping fast at about 13.1 percent. Gasoline, which is given a lot of weight on these numbers, is down almost 5 percent, and energy overall, including utilities like gas and electricity, is down 2.2 percent.

So a big concern, though, of inflation is how it impacts wages, and the Labor Department says that right now they are not keeping up. Real wages, which is wage growth adjusted for inflation, is still in the negative, with Americans on average earning about 2 percent less than they did last year. With a look inside the numbers, I'm Garrett Archer, ABC 15, Arizona.

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