High Gas Prices Hit Low-income Americans The Hardest

蘇紅英

For lower-income Americans，high gas prices can set off a cycle of hardship.

Driving the news：The daily US average national price for?a gallon of regular climbed to $4.99 as of June 9 morning — a cent shy of the symbolic $5 threshold，according to AAA.

Those at the top spent the equivalent of about 2% of their income on gas in 2019. Thats the most recent year for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics has survey data that are not skewed by weird pandemic behavior.

Those at the lower end of the income scale devoted 8% of their after-tax income to gas in 2019.（Although many living in urban areas without cars are spared the expense.）

In 2008，when gas prices hit a record（inflation-adjusted） high，that group spent close to 12%.

This data looks at gas expenditures as a percentage of income. A more common practice is to slice the numbers as a percentage of overall household spending.

It looks different that way：The lowest 20% of earners devoted 3.7% of their spending to gas versus 2.7% for the highest earners，per BLS.

Meanwhile，more recent data，from Bank of America， shows that Americans who earn less than $50，000 a year are currently spending nearly 10% of their credit card bills on gas， compared with 6% for households earning more than $125，000.

For those who must drive to work，higher gas prices are essentially a pay cut.

“It can create a cascade of other hardships，”said former Federal Reserve economist Claudia Sahm. If an increased share of your money goes to gas，you have to make painful choices about where that cash comes from.

This comes at a time of rising food prices，which are also pinching lower-income households.

對(duì)于美國低收入人群來說，高油價(jià)可能引發(fā)一系列難題。

美國汽車協(xié)會(huì)數(shù)據(jù)顯示，截至6月9日上午，美國一加侖普通汽油均價(jià)攀升至 4.99 美元，比象征性的5美元門檻低了一美分。

美國勞工統(tǒng)計(jì)局最新調(diào)查數(shù)據(jù)顯示，2019 年，美國高收入人群的汽油支出相當(dāng)于其收入的 2%。這些數(shù)據(jù)沒有受到新冠疫情的影響。

2019 年，低收入人群的汽油支出占其稅后收入的8%（盡管許多沒有汽車的城市居民可以省下這筆費(fèi)用。）

2008年，當(dāng)油價(jià)創(chuàng)下歷史新高（根據(jù)通脹調(diào)整后）時(shí)，低收入人群的汽油支出接近12%。

該數(shù)據(jù)計(jì)算的是汽油支出占收入的百分比。更常見的是計(jì)算汽油支出占家庭總開支的百分比。

這樣數(shù)據(jù)就有所變化：根據(jù)美國勞工統(tǒng) 計(jì)局的數(shù)據(jù)，占比 20%的低收入人群的汽油 支出占家庭總開支的3.7%，而高收入人群汽 油支出占比2.7%。

與此同時(shí)，美國銀行最新數(shù)據(jù)顯示，年收 入低于5萬美元的美國人目前的信用卡賬單 汽油消費(fèi)占比接近 10%，而年收入超過 12.5 萬美元的家庭則為6%。

對(duì)于那些必須開車上班的人來說，油價(jià)上漲本質(zhì)上是一種降薪。

前美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家克勞迪婭·薩姆表示： “油價(jià)上漲可能會(huì)引發(fā)一系列其他困難?！比?果你的加油支出越多，就不得不在其他方面 削減開支。

同時(shí)食品價(jià)格也在上漲，這使低收入家庭雪上加霜。