The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current, January 13, 2022, Image 12

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The Bulletin., January 13, 2022, Page 12, Image 12

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Newspaper Page TextA12 The BulleTin • Thursday, January 13, 2022 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022 TODAY FRIDAY TONIGHT HIGH 47° LOW 30° Low clouds and cooler with a little rain Partly sunny ALMANAC SUNDAY MONDAY 54° 28° 54° 36° Mild with sun and areas of high clouds Mild with partial sunshine 50° 31° Partly cloudy TUESDAY 56° 36° Mild with intervals of clouds and sun TEMPERATURE Yesterday Normal Record 59° 42° 62° in 1929 41° 25° -15° in 1963 PRECIPITATION 24 hours through 5 p.m. yesterday 0.00" Record 1.55" in 1912 Month to date (normal) 0.84" (0.62") Year to date (normal) 0.84" (0.62") Barometric pressure at 4 p.m. 30.18" SUN, MOON AND PLANETS Rise/Set Today Fri. Sun 7:38am/4:50pm 7:38am/4:51pm Moon 1:26pm/4:12am 2:02pm/5:14am Mercury 8:27am/6:17pm 8:22am/6:14pm Venus 6:42am/4:34pm 6:36am/4:28pm Mars 5:34am/2:23pm 5:34am/2:22pm Jupiter 9:35am/8:12pm 9:31am/8:10pm Saturn 8:44am/6:28pm 8:41am/6:25pm Uranus 12:07pm/2:11am 12:03pm/2:08am Full Last New First Jan 17 Jan 25 Jan 31 Feb 8 Tonight's sky: The Great Square of Pegasus is high in the west. Source: Jim Todd, OMSI UV INDEX TODAY 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 0 1 0 0 The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index ™ number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. 0-2 Low, 3-5 Moderate; 6-7 High; 8-10 Very High; 11+ Extreme. ROAD CONDITONS For web cameras of our passes, go to www.bendbulletin.com/webcams I-84 at Cabbage Hill: Cloudy today with oc- casional rain. Mostly cloudy tonight. US 20 at Santiam Pass: A rain or snow shower this morning, then a shower or two. US 26 at Gov't Camp: Occasional rain today. A passing shower tonight. US 26 at Ochoco Divide: Cloudy today with a few showers. Mainly cloudy tonight. ORE 58 at Willamette Pass: A couple of showers of rain or snow today. Areas of low clouds tonight. ORE 138 at Diamond Lake: Cloudy today with a little rain in the afternoon. SKI REPORT Astoria 51/43 NATIONAL Hood River Yesterday Today Friday Yesterday Today Friday Yesterday Today Friday City Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W City Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W City Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W Astoria 60/54/1.55 51/43/r 51/41/pc La Grande 40/35/0.00 39/33/r 39/30/c Portland 56/43/0.01 51/43/r 51/36/pc Baker City 35/22/Tr 35/23/i 34/22/c La Pine 53/24/0.00 42/27/sn 43/27/pc Prineville 54/36/0.00 48/32/r 43/33/pc Brookings 58/46/0.00 51/42/r 57/41/c Medford 55/34/0.00 53/35/sh 53/32/pc Redmond 57/44/Tr 47/29/r 49/29/pc Burns 42/0/0.00 41/22/pc 39/21/c Newport 55/46/0.00 51/44/r 53/40/pc Roseburg 51/37/0.00 54/39/r 53/34/pc Eugene 58/40/Tr 52/40/r 49/36/pc North Bend 60/45/Tr 53/44/r 55/40/pc Salem 60/51/0.01 52/42/r 52/36/pc Klamath Falls 54/24/0.00 47/27/pc 47/21/pc Ontario 35/21/0.00 36/27/c 39/29/c Sisters 52/28/0.00 46/28/sn 49/29/pc Lakeview 48/28/0.00 41/26/pc 40/19/pc Pendleton 57/46/0.02 43/33/r 43/30/c The Dalles 43/36/0.01 43/35/c 44/35/pc Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice, Tr-trace, Yesterday data as of 5 p.m. yesterday NATIONAL WEATHER -10s -0s 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s 110s NATIONAL EXTREMES YESTERDAY (for the T-storms Yesterday City Hi/Lo/Prec. Abilene 67/33/0.00 Akron 43/22/0.00 Albany 31/4/0.00 Albuquerque 57/23/0.00 Anchorage 39/23/Tr Atlanta 56/32/0.00 Atlantic City 44/17/0.00 Austin 63/43/Tr Baltimore 47/19/0.00 Billings 53/37/0.00 Birmingham 56/29/0.00 Bismarck 41/25/Tr Boise 39/23/0.00 Boston 42/10/0.00 Bridgeport, CT 38/13/0.00 Buffalo 37/18/0.00 Burlington, VT 28/-3/0.06 Caribou, ME 11/-16/0.05 Charleston, SC 59/29/0.00 Charlotte 52/24/0.00 Chattanooga 55/26/0.00 Cheyenne 49/32/0.00 Chicago 41/33/Tr Cincinnati 49/28/0.00 Cleveland 43/24/0.00 Colorado Springs 58/22/0.00 Columbia, MO 57/34/0.00 Columbia, SC 57/23/Tr Columbus, GA 59/30/0.00 Columbus, OH 44/25/0.00 Concord, NH 30/-7/0.00 Corpus Christi 64/51/0.01 Dallas 64/36/0.00 Dayton 46/28/0.04 Denver 58/30/0.00 Des Moines 53/30/0.00 Detroit 39/25/0.08 Duluth 25/24/0.00 El Paso 63/30/0.00 Fairbanks 12/5/0.12 Fargo 30/21/0.00 Flagstaff 49/12/0.00 Grand Rapids 38/26/0.01 Green Bay 33/22/0.00 Greensboro 49/23/0.00 Harrisburg 35/16/0.00 Hartford, CT 38/4/0.00 Helena 41/28/0.01 Honolulu 82/65/0.01 Houston 62/47/0.11 Huntsville 56/26/0.00 Indianapolis 48/30/0.00 Jackson, MS 60/30/0.00 Jacksonville 64/42/0.00 Today Hi/Lo/W 71/42/s 41/29/sf 39/26/sf 57/33/pc 35/30/sf 58/38/pc 45/38/pc 74/38/s 47/34/pc 49/34/c 59/36/s 31/19/c 39/26/pc 42/32/c 43/34/c 38/21/sn 34/20/sf 20/17/sn 61/41/pc 55/35/pc 54/33/pc 52/31/pc 37/27/c 42/30/c 40/28/sf 60/40/s 51/30/pc 60/38/pc 62/38/s 41/28/c 37/22/c 75/46/pc 72/40/s 41/28/c 58/33/pc 43/26/pc 36/23/c 24/6/c 64/38/pc 14/9/c 24/14/c 54/28/pc 34/19/sf 31/10/c 52/35/pc 44/32/pc 41/27/c 38/26/pc 81/68/pc 72/45/s 56/33/s 39/28/c 65/38/s 66/42/pc Amsterdam Athens Auckland Baghdad Bangkok Beijing Beirut Berlin Bogota Budapest Buenos Aires Cabo San Lucas Cairo Calgary Cancun Dublin Edinburgh Geneva Harare Hong Kong Istanbul Jerusalem Johannesburg Lima Lisbon London Madrid Manila 49/39/pc 45/37/s 77/60/pc 72/54/c 92/74/s 39/12/pc 65/55/r 44/39/c 64/48/r 39/29/pc 92/78/s 88/68/pc 66/52/s 41/19/c 80/61/s 45/35/pc 48/43/pc 39/28/s 72/62/t 67/60/s 38/31/c 58/46/pc 78/62/r 74/69/c 58/42/s 45/34/pc 50/26/s 84/73/pc Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. Rain Showers Snow Flurries Ice Warm Front Stationary Front Cold Front Source: OnTheSnow.com 41/38/0.00 46/45/0.08 73/64/0.00 70/53/0.00 91/75/0.00 36/15/0.00 70/54/0.01 38/25/0.00 64/51/0.00 34/12/0.00 82/72/0.00 82/66/0.00 68/57/0.00 48/32/Tr 81/68/0.06 50/41/0.00 49/45/0.00 36/30/0.00 70/62/0.89 63/59/0.00 38/37/0.36 60/43/0.00 74/59/0.39 76/70/0.00 63/48/0.00 46/35/0.00 55/34/0.00 86/75/0.00 Inflation Continued from A11 Bulletin file Ninkasi Brewing Co., seen in this 2019 photo, is located in Eugene. Ninkasi Continued from A11 Morgenthaler and Floyd said they wanted the cocktail line to offer single-serving 12-ounce cans for ease and portability, whether that’s coming home from work or going camping. Floyd also wanted a convenient option for bars and restau- rants. “Sometimes companies get together and have big think tank moments,” Floyd said. “For Nikos and I, we just look out at what’s going on out there and get these feelings. And this was one of these that we threw gasoline on. Morgenthaler said he developed the drinks with certain rules in mind: The ingredients need to be real and unspoilable. They must be carbonated and must be kept under a certain proof. The cocktails range from 8.4% to 9% alcohol by volume, roughly the same as a double IPA. Morgenthaler and Floyd said they expect the drinks to have a shelf life of up to nine months. “It was a challenge to get these things to read as their base spirit while still being under that proof,” Morgenthaler said. “It still needs to taste like al- cohol and not just seltzer. But I think we pulled it Workforce Continued from A11 The total $200 million would be composed of both state general fund monies made up of per- sonal and corporate income taxes, as well as Amer- ican Rescue Plan Act dollars. Duncan Wyse, president of the Oregon Business Friday Hi/Lo/W 75/37/pc 30/13/s 30/-3/pc 56/30/pc 38/28/pc 54/37/s 45/17/pc 76/46/pc 44/14/pc 37/24/pc 54/38/s 22/-5/sn 39/25/s 38/4/sn 41/6/pc 24/5/pc 21/-9/sf 23/-12/sf 59/38/s 54/32/pc 48/34/pc 34/15/c 30/21/c 36/21/pc 31/15/pc 47/18/pc 39/30/c 57/35/s 61/37/s 34/18/pc 30/-6/pc 76/57/s 71/40/pc 33/18/pc 40/17/pc 33/18/sn 27/8/pc 14/-2/sn 67/39/c 10/-1/pc 19/-8/sn 49/23/pc 23/11/c 16/6/c 52/28/pc 39/13/s 36/3/pc 35/17/pc 80/67/sh 74/56/s 50/35/s 36/19/c 64/46/pc 64/37/s City Juneau Kansas City Lansing Las Vegas Lexington Lincoln Little Rock Los Angeles Louisville Madison, WI Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis Nashville New Orleans New York City Newark, NJ Norfolk, VA Oklahoma City Omaha Orlando Palm Springs Peoria Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Portland, ME Providence Raleigh Rapid City Reno Richmond Rochester, NY Sacramento St. Louis Salt Lake City San Antonio San Diego San Francisco San Jose Santa Fe Savannah Seattle Sioux Falls Spokane Springﬁ eld, MO Tampa Tucson Tulsa Washington, DC Wichita Yakima Yuma Yesterday Hi/Lo/Prec. 39/36/0.37 53/28/0.00 39/26/Tr 65/41/0.00 50/27/0.00 59/22/0.00 64/30/0.00 76/47/0.00 54/32/0.00 42/28/0.00 59/35/0.00 76/66/1.50 42/31/Tr 40/27/0.00 57/28/0.00 58/49/0.00 40/17/0.00 40/15/0.00 50/21/0.00 61/30/0.00 58/25/0.00 75/53/0.00 74/50/0.00 40/27/0.00 43/20/0.00 70/49/0.00 43/20/0.00 30/0/0.00 42/9/0.00 53/25/0.00 60/26/0.00 57/25/0.00 50/22/0.00 36/10/Tr 61/36/0.00 59/38/0.00 45/26/0.00 63/44/0.00 74/47/0.00 58/44/0.00 66/41/0.00 51/22/0.00 61/32/0.00 56/50/0.53 51/33/0.00 42/36/0.19 54/37/0.00 77/54/0.00 72/41/0.00 60/35/0.00 47/23/0.00 60/22/0.00 41/25/0.02 72/54/0.00 Today Hi/Lo/W 39/35/sn 53/31/pc 34/19/c 63/46/pc 45/30/c 52/29/pc 65/38/s 70/55/pc 45/32/c 33/15/c 60/36/pc 74/56/r 36/26/c 30/14/c 53/32/pc 67/47/s 43/35/pc 45/34/pc 50/38/pc 66/38/s 48/28/pc 73/50/pc 75/55/pc 37/27/c 48/35/pc 72/52/pc 42/29/c 36/25/c 46/33/c 53/34/pc 50/32/c 59/30/pc 51/34/pc 38/20/sf 61/40/pc 50/30/pc 46/30/pc 74/42/s 70/54/pc 57/46/pc 62/44/pc 55/30/pc 64/41/pc 52/42/r 39/25/pc 38/31/c 56/31/s 70/56/pc 75/49/pc 64/38/s 48/36/pc 60/35/s 40/28/i 73/51/pc Friday Hi/Lo/W 42/34/sn 43/29/c 24/11/pc 68/42/pc 36/21/pc 41/18/sn 52/40/pc 72/56/c 41/26/pc 23/12/sn 51/40/pc 73/55/pc 27/21/c 19/3/sn 44/35/pc 67/53/s 41/11/pc 41/11/pc 47/27/pc 62/25/pc 35/17/i 69/45/s 80/57/pc 33/22/c 44/13/pc 70/46/pc 31/11/s 34/-2/c 39/6/sn 54/28/pc 34/11/c 49/27/s 51/23/s 23/4/sn 61/39/s 40/30/c 41/25/s 74/47/pc 69/53/c 56/46/s 61/42/s 51/23/s 61/38/s 50/39/pc 29/7/sn 38/31/c 47/33/c 70/48/s 72/43/pc 57/32/pc 47/21/s 54/25/pc 38/31/c 77/55/pc 88/71/0.11 69/41/0.00 14/-8/0.23 7/6/0.10 82/53/0.00 73/67/0.57 61/46/0.00 41/30/0.18 37/25/0.00 19/-4/0.23 41/30/0.00 81/75/0.00 55/37/0.14 86/61/0.00 79/64/0.26 36/21/0.49 28/6/Tr 47/26/0.00 86/76/0.00 40/28/0.03 74/68/0.44 59/54/0.09 71/54/0.00 47/39/0.00 36/18/0.00 50/48/1.26 28/23/0.00 30/23/0.00 85/70/s 68/43/pc 22/12/sf 19/16/sn 83/55/pc 75/65/r 64/46/pc 47/32/pc 46/37/c 23/2/c 43/31/s 84/76/pc 52/33/s 84/57/s 80/68/t 33/25/sn 27/12/s 42/28/pc 86/75/c 46/33/c 77/69/sh 61/54/c 66/56/pc 50/36/pc 33/12/sf 47/39/pc 40/36/pc 39/36/c 81/67/t 69/43/s 13/-15/pc 36/27/sn 85/58/pc 75/60/s 65/45/pc 45/32/pc 40/21/s 4/-14/s 44/31/pc 86/76/pc 52/37/s 90/59/s 83/69/t 31/28/sf 34/17/s 46/37/c 86/75/pc 38/26/pc 80/70/sh 63/55/pc 60/52/sh 48/35/s 16/-4/s 46/38/c 48/35/s 43/29/sh INTERNATIONAL 48 contiguous states) National high: 83° at Anaheim, CA National low: -25° at Seboomook, ME Precipitation: 1.77" at Seaside, OR In inches as of 5 p.m. yesterday Ski resort New snow Base Anthony Lakes Mtn 0 54-54 Hoodoo Ski Area 0 66-66 Mt. Ashland 0 45-48 Mt. Bachelor 1 73-73 Mt. Hood Meadows 0 94-141 Mt. Hood Ski Bowl 0 73-77 Timberline Lodge 0 110-110 Willamette Pass 0 84-84 Aspen / Snowmass, CO 0 39-71 Mammoth Mtn. Ski, CA 0 85-167 Palisades Tahoe, CA 0 0-114 Park City Mountain, UT 0 44-44 Sun Valley, ID 0 56-86 Morning snow showers possible TRAVEL WEATHER Umatilla 43/31 Rufus Hermiston 43/35 44/31 42/36 Arlington Hillsboro Portland Meacham Lostine 42/32 50/42 51/43 38/32 Wasco 38/31 Enterprise Pendleton The Dalles CENTRAL: A little Tillamook 38/30 41/33 43/33 Sandy 43/35 McMinnville 53/45 rain today; during the Joseph Heppner La Grande 50/43 Maupin Government 53/46 morning in the north, 39/33 41/31 Camp 45/30 Condon 46/33 Union Lincoln City any time in central 42/31 42/36 40/31 Salem 52/45 Spray parts. Granite Warm Springs 52/42 Madras 46/33 Albany 38/27 Newport Baker City 45/31 48/33 Mitchell 51/44 51/41 35/23 WEST: Occasional Camp Sherman 45/33 Redmond Corvallis John Yachats Unity morning rain and 45/30 47/29 51/41 Day Prineville 34/26 drizzle, then a shower 50/45 Ontario Sisters 48/32 Paulina 42/35 36/27 today; however, a Florence Eugene 46/28 Bend Brothers 41/29 Vale couple of showers in 51/45 52/40 47/30 41/29 Sunriver 38/25 the south. Nyssa 42/28 Hampton Cottage La Pine 38/27 Juntura Oakridge Grove 42/27 41/28 OREGON EXTREMES Coos Bay Burns 40/27 49/36 50/37 Fort Rock 52/43 41/22 Riley YESTERDAY Crescent 43/28 42/26 High: 61° 41/27 Bandon Roseburg Christmas Valley Jordan Valley at Tillamook Beaver Frenchglen Silver 52/44 54/39 44/27 44/29 Low: 0° Marsh Lake 47/31 Port Orford 42/23 43/27 at Burns Grants Burns Junction Paisley 52/45 Pass 47/28 Chiloquin 46/29 52/38 Rome Medford 45/25 Gold Beach 53/35 46/29 51/44 Klamath Fields Ashland McDermitt Lakeview Falls Brookings 49/30 53/39 47/27 46/29 51/42 41/26 Seaside 52/45 Cannon Beach 51/45 53° 39° Mostly cloudy and mild Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. EAST: A little rain today; any time in central parts, during the afternoon in the north. WEDNESDAY 52° 35° OREGON WEATHER Bend Municipal Airport through 5 p.m. yest. High Low SATURDAY “That’s the first time it struck a nerve in me, because once we had beer in cans, I thought cocktails in a can would be smart, too.” — Jamie Floyd, Ninkasi co-founder off.” About 60,000 cans of each drink have been produced so far, and they will become available be- ginning this week at liquor stores in Oregon, Wash- ington, Idaho, California and Nevada, as well as in grocery stores where allowed. Ninkasi’s beverage tracker website allows customers to search for out- lets offering the cocktails. Floyd anticipates the drinks will eventually be available in Hawaii and Alaska as well, and he an- ticipates Morgenthaler’s reputation could create an even wider market. “One of the cool things about working with Jeff, not that our intention is to be national, but we could send it anywhere because of Jeff’s reputa- tion nationally,” Floyd said. “It’s kind of a different play for us if we just want to send some canned cocktails somewhere like New Orleans, or New York where he’s spent a lot of time, and maybe they might take some beer, too.” Council, called the program a “game changing and exciting” proposal. “We have immediate needs. Employers need talent right now, and there are a lot of Oregonians who are looking for new careers as they’ve gone through the pandemic,” he said. “(This program) really is trying to reimagine how we provide educa- tion and training services to adults.” It wasn’t supposed to be this way — not with the coronavirus pandemic keeping people hunkered down at home and trig- gering a devastating recession beginning in March 2020. Barely more than a year ago, the Fed had forecast that consumer prices would end 2021 only about 1.8% higher than they were a year earlier, below even its annual 2% inflation target. Yet after having been an economic af- terthought for decades, high inflation re- asserted itself last year with astonishing speed. In February 2021, the Labor De- partment’s consumer price index was run- ning just 1.7% ahead of a year earlier. From there, the year-over-year price increases accelerated steadily — 2.6% in March, 4.2% in April, 4.9% in May, 5.3% in June. By Oc- tober, the figure was 6.2%, by November 6.8%. At first, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and others characterized higher consumer prices as merely a “transitory” problem — the result, mainly, of shipping delays and temporary shortages of supplies and work- ers as the economy rebounded from the pandemic recession much faster than any- one had anticipated. Now, many economists expect consumer inflation to remain elevated at least through this year, with demand outstripping sup- plies in numerous areas of the economy. And the Fed has radically changed course. As recently as September, Fed pol- icymakers had been divided over whether to raise rates even once this year. But last month, the central bank signaled that it expects to raise its short-term benchmark rate, now pinned near zero, three times this year in an effort to quell inflation. And many private economists expect as many as four Fed rate hikes in 2022. “If we have to raise interest rates more over time,” Powell told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, “we will.” What has caused inflation to spike? Much of the surge is actually a conse- quence of healthy economic trends. When the pandemic paralyzed the economy in the spring of 2020 and lockdowns kicked in, businesses closed or cut hours and con- sumers stayed home as a health precau- tion, employers slashed a breathtaking 22 million jobs. Economic output plunged at a record-shattering 31% annual rate in last year’s April-June quarter. Everyone braced for more misery. Com- panies cut investment. Restocking was post- poned. A brutal recession ensued. But instead of sinking into a prolonged downturn, the economy staged an unex- pectedly rousing recovery, fueled by vast infusions of government aid and emergency intervention by the Fed, which slashed in- terest rates, among other things. By spring, the rollout of vaccines had emboldened 47/38/c 51/40/s 77/62/pc 68/45/pc 91/73/s 32/15/pc 59/52/sh 45/32/c 66/48/sh 45/32/s 98/82/s 89/67/s 59/49/pc 34/26/pc 79/61/pc 45/38/c 48/36/c 43/30/s 71/62/t 67/63/pc 41/36/s 48/43/sh 75/60/t 76/69/c 56/43/s 43/35/pc 49/29/s 84/73/pc Mecca Mexico City Montreal Moscow Nairobi Nassau New Delhi Osaka Oslo Ottawa Paris Rio de Janeiro Rome Santiago Sao Paulo Sapporo Seoul Shanghai Singapore Stockholm Sydney Taipei City Tel Aviv Tokyo Toronto Vancouver Vienna Warsaw consumers to return to restaurants, bars, shops and airports. Suddenly, businesses had to scramble to meet demand. They couldn’t hire fast enough to fill job openings — a near record 10.6 million in November — or buy enough supplies to meet customer orders. As busi- ness roared back, ports and freight yards couldn’t handle the traffic. Global supply chains became snarled. Costs rose. And companies found that they could pass along those higher costs in the form of higher prices to consumers, many of whom had managed to sock away a ton of savings during the pandemic. But critics, including former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, blamed in part President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, with its $1,400 checks to most households, for overheating an economy that was already sizzling on its own. The Fed and the federal government had feared an agonizingly slow recovery like the one that followed the Great Recession of 2007-2009. “In retrospect, it was more than what was needed,’’ said Ellen Gaske, an econ- omist at PGIM Fixed Income. “I point a finger very strongly at the nature of fiscal policy at this time. It was not just the size of the (relief) packages, but those direct cash payments to households added purchasing power very directly. And when you pushed that up against the supply disruptions be- cause of COVID, the pressure valve was higher inflation.’’ How long will it last? Elevated consumer price inflation will likely endure as long as companies strug- gle to keep up with consumers’ demand for goods and services. A recovering job market — employers added a record 6.4 million jobs last year — means that many Americans can continue to splurge on ev- erything from lawn furniture to electron- ics. Many economists see inflation staying well above the Fed’s 2% target this year. But relief from higher prices might be coming. Jammed-up supply chains are beginning to show some signs of improvement, at least in some industries. The Fed’s sharp pivot away from easy-money policies toward a more hawkish, anti-inflationary policy could slow the economy and reduce consumer de- mand. How are higher prices affecting consumers? A strong job market is boosting wages, though not enough to compensate for higher prices. The Labor Department says that hourly earnings for all private-sector employees fell 1.7% in November from a year earlier after accounting for higher con- sumer prices. But there are exceptions: Af- ter-inflation wages were up nearly 14% for hotel workers and 7% for restaurant em- ployees.