Senator LaTonya Johnson, thanks very much.

>> Thank you.

>> The economy is a top issue heading into the 2024 election, but how is it actually doing?

Workers saw higher wage growth and a faster growing GDP under President Biden, but saw much lower inflation under President Trump, inflation has cooled off since the pandemic down to 2.5% as of today.

Still, prices remain high "Here& Now", reporter Nathan Denzin has more on this.

>> If the 2020 election was defined by Covid 19, the 2024 election is defined by the economy.

are housing, food, especially rent and child care.

>> You're seeing a pretty good increase in both grocery prices, but also prices as a whole.

>> Inflation is real, you know, we feel strongly some of that is corporate greed too.

>> Since 2020, the American economy has been hard to pin down.

>> The average worker today, I think, on an hourly basis is making about $6 more an hour than they were back before the pandemic.

professor at the UW La Follette School of Public Affairs studying consumer decision making.

also risen so that extra $6, almost all of it has been eaten up by the cost of the stuff they have to pay for.

>> Cumulative inflation since 2021, when Joe Biden took offic, has continued to climb.

>> Meaning in 2019, if a consumer was paying $100 for groceries in 2024, they're now paying about $125.

>> Mike Semmen is the president and CEO of the Wisconsin Grocers Association.

economic shock to the system.

>> I think the other thing is that it has not been across the board.

Inflation has been energ.

Things like your electrical bill, things like gasoline and food.

responsive to rising energy costs.

the front end of the supply chain, are going to have a major impact, because grocery stores only have about a 1 to 2% profit margin.

frequently, like a mattress, have much larger margins.

That means that when energy costs rise, a mattress business can eat some of the extra expense and still make a profit.

But with groceries, the margin is so slim that any rise in production and transportation costs will show up when you check out.

Supply chains broke down in the early days of the pandemic, which caused prices to rise dramatically.

increase in a transportation cost on the front end of the supply chain, that's multiplied across every different point, and by the time it reaches the end consumer, they're going to be feeling it.

>> Those price increases have led many to wonder if America is in a recession.

The latest Marquette University Law School poll found that nearly two thirds of Wisconsinites have a negative view of the economy in terms of how the economy is humming along.

>> There's really no sign that we're in a recession right now.

>> A recession is broadly defined as multiple quarters of negative GDP growth.

That threshold was briefly met in mid 2022, but since then the economy has grown.

Each quarter.

Other economic indicators, like unemployment in the stock market also look positive.

The S&P 500 has grown more than 45% since Biden took office, and unemployment continues to hover near record lows of just under 3% in Wisconsin.

Wages in Wisconsin have increased roughly 25% across all jobs, enough to very narrowly beat inflation.

>> We have been able to secure some unprecedented collective bargaining agreements, right, 19% increases over three years.

>> Kent Miller is the president and business manager of the Wisconsin Laborers District Council, or Liuna.

>> The bipartisan infrastructure bill in Wisconsin, that's an extra billion dollars over five years in investing in roads and bridges and sewer and water infrastructure.

We have the Inflation Reduction Act, where we're seeing tons of private investment in utility scale solar and wind development and battery storage, Miller says.

>> Liuna, which represents over 9000 laborers in Wisconsin, has seen tremendous growth under the Biden administration.

>> I think that there's an estimate on just the IRA component in Wisconsin of like almost 19,000 jobs, workers who are working on an hourly basis, whether that's in manufacturing or construction or whatever it might be, are doing better than they were 4 or 5 years ago.

And that's because of the Biden-Harris administration.

better, the question is, have they been able to swim faster than all these sort of other things that are pushing against them?

but Semmen says grocery stores have started to see inflation cool off.

>> We're seeing both a stability in prices in certain types of produce, but we're also seeing a real decrease in prices in in produce in the produce area.

>> Take wage increases in a growing stock market and combine it with high inflation.

And you get an economy that is kind of weird.

Collins says it's difficult to declare exactly how the economy is doing, especially since attitudes about it are so poor.

think about how to get through today.

They're trying to think about how are they going to fare six months from now, or, you know, they're making plans for next year.

And whether they're.

Whether that's buying a house or going on vacation and like, are they going to be able to afford that when it comes to voters, their perception is reality.

>> And until prices stabilize or drop across the board, negative