The U.S. economy still suffers from persistent, nagging inflation despite the reassurances from the Biden administration that inflation was supposed to be “transitory.” A recent report highlighted how faculty members are struggling with inflation, too.
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) reported in April that the average salaries of full-time faculty fell an estimated 7.5% from fall 2019-fall 2022 because of persistent inflation. Its survey also found that in the 2022-23 academic year, average faculty salaries dropped 2.4%.
AAUP claimed that there were pay differences between male and female faculty, where full-time female faculty had a salary of 82% of men’s salaries in the 2022-23 academic year.
The survey covered about 900 colleges and universities, which provided data of around 370,000 full-time faculty and 90,000 part-time faculty members.
But the AAUP report demonstrates how inflation continues to impact consumers’ finances. Before the Biden presidency, inflation was under 2% between 2019 and 2020. But, with the multi-billion-dollar spending bills pushed by Biden, the Democratic Party and establishment Republicans, inflation skyrocketed to numbers not seen in many years. As of this May, inflation sat at 4%, which is over double what it was in 2019. Yet even that inflation figure does not account for the unequal increase in prices of products, such as eggs, bread, and other consumable goods that have doubled in price over the past several years.
Considering that academics are overwhelmingly liberal or left-wing Democrats, they have nobody to blame but Biden (who they likely voted for). As the old political adage goes, elections have consequences.
