Wages Vs Inflation, Tennessee Failed Execution, Cornell Rape Case Special Prosecutor

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Michelle Martin (0:02)

I do.

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Michelle Martin (0:36)

Americans' wages are going up. Prices are also rising more quickly than people's pay.

Steve Inskeep (0:41)

Some people borrow to fill the gap, and interest rates are rising too. How long can consumers keep the economy going?

Michelle Martin (0:48)

I'm Michelle Martin. That's Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News.

Tennessee is trying to save the women it tried to kill. Christa Pike was on death row for a murder she committed as a teenager. She survived two lethal injections and is now in critical condition. What happens now?

Steve Inskeep (1:06)

Also, New York's governor has signed a special prosecutor in the alleged rape case at Cornell University. Authorities in 2024 saw no evidence of a crime they could prosecute, but how did they not know about the woman's statement that she was raped? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.

American consumers are heading toward the holiday season with their budgets not quite adding up.

Michelle Martin (1:34)

Inflation is up, meaning people have to pay more for things they need or want to buy. Wages have grown less than inflation, meaning that many people who pay more also have to borrow more, and interest rates are up, meaning the borrowing costs more.

Steve Inskeep (1:48)

Those are the trends as we receive the government's update on the job market today. NPR's Scott Horsley brings it all together for us. Scott, good morning.

Scott Horsley (1:56)

Good morning, Steve.

Steve Inskeep (1:57)

Okay, the job market. Hiring was not so great in July, stronger in August. What about September?

Scott Horsley (2:03)

Forecasters think it's going to be somewhere in the middle, that employers added between 80,000 and 90,000 jobs in September. That'd be a slowdown from August, but not nearly as slow as we saw earlier in the summer.

Sarah House is a senior economist at Wells Fargo. She thinks the job market is not stalling or accelerating. It's just kind of chugging along in a low gear.

Sarah House (2:23)

You're seeing some modest hiring. The good news is you're not seeing a lot of layoffs, but it's really hard if you are one of those workers who loses their job or you're new to the labor force or maybe coming back. There's just not a lot of turnover, so it makes it harder to get your foot in the door right now.

Scott Horsley (2:40)

One way to measure the strength of the job market is what's happening with wages.

Average wages in August were up 3.1% from a year ago, and the House expects a similar gain for September. That's not enough to keep pace with rising prices, so the typical worker is losing some buying power month after month.

Steve Inskeep (2:57)

Okay, so what is happening with inflation?

Scott Horsley (2:59)

It's still high, although not quite as high as it had been. This week, the Commerce Department released its inflation scorecard for August. That's the one the Federal Reserve pays most attention to. It showed prices in August were up 3.4% from a year ago.

Of course, rising gasoline prices were a big part of that. A couple of weeks ago, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate to try to tamp down inflation. And Rebecca Venter, who monitors interest rates at Vanguard, says investors are wondering how much higher borrowing costs are likely to go.

Rebecca Venter (3:28)

The Fed has come on pretty strong, reaffirming its commitment to bring inflation back to its 2% target. Now the question is, if growth is strong, if inflation is pretty sticky, where do rates need to go for that goal to actually be met?

Scott Horsley (3:43)

Of course, the Fed sets short-term interest rates. Long-term rates are set in the bond market, and they have been going up at a rapid clip. The yield on 10-year treasuries is up around 5.25%.

And that's pushing up borrowing costs for everybody else. You know, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage, for example, is now just under 7.25%.