News 12's Doug Geed was joined by CPA and economic consultant Marty Cantor to discuss how inflation is affecting your wages and ways to save money.

The Labor Department said initial unemployment claims were at 267,000 last week, which is a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week.

Cantor says that while this means employers have been able to hold on to their workers, there are still nearly 10 million jobs posted that remain unfilled and around 4.5 million pre-pandemic jobs that have not come back.

A new government report showed that consumer prices jumped by 6.2%, the largest increase since 1990.

Cantor says inflation is having a major impact on consumers’ wages. Those who got raises recently are finding their checks have less effective spending power as prices rise, such as in fuel and groceries.

The government report says bacon prices went up by 20% since last year, while egg prices increased by 12%. Gasoline prices raised by 50%.

Families say they have been feeling the impact of high grocery prices. Cantor says until production problems resolve and delivery costs decrease, these prices will likely stay the same for a long time.

Cantor advises seniors and those on fixed incomes to do comparative shopping in order to get the greatest deals. He says consumers have some power as many stores will chose to lower their prices to get customers back in.

A Federal Reserve study in 2020 showed that 25% of women were out of the workforce and had child care or elder care responsibilities.

Cantor says this could correlate with a recent study that found only 13% of NYC workers are back in the office. He says the price of child care has increased and caregivers, who are often women, have been forced to stay home.