Damon Blanchard, a 46-year-old living in Columbus, Ohio, is unemployed but gets a biweekly workers’ compensation check worth about $686 after getting hurt on the job in a scrapyard three years ago, he said.
— Damon Blanchard, a 46-year-old living in Columbus, Ohio The company did not immediately respond to MarketWatch’s request for comment, but has previously told local media outlets that it is investing in much-needed safety and building improvements and that any rent increases were in line with comparable rental properties in the area.
Housing costs — which, for a middle-income household, might take up a third of a family’s take-home pay — have jumped by 5.1% in the past year, the fastest annual pace since 1991, while rents are up 4.8% from a year ago, according to the Labor Department. Still, that kind of swing is nothing to sneeze at, and can have particularly dire consequences for low-income households without a lot of breathing room in their budgets. Rent increases are also likely to disproportionately burden Black and Latino families, who were more likely to spend 30% of their income on housing even before the pandemic.
Biden vows to fight inflation On Wednesday, President Joe Biden said his administration will step up efforts to fight inflation.