Does food necessarily become less affordable as prices rise?
No
Consumers may have greater purchasing power even when food prices rise, because wages and salaries may increase faster than the price of food.
This result can differ across different types of food. Technological advances in turkey production meant that a worker earning the median weekly salary in 1980 would have to work almost three hours to earn enough to buy a 20-pound turkey, but only an hour and 15 minutes in 2019.
Likewise, it takes less time for a worker receiving the median weekly salary to purchase bread and potatoes today than in the 2008 to 2012 period. But beef steak is less affordable today than in the past.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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