I think food prices are going up as a combination of three factors:
1) PRIMARY factor. The rent is too damned high. It has been and people have been cramming together like sardines; but just like the car rush as PPE bubbles, now people want all the housing everywhere even MORE than the last 30-50 years when it wasn't being built sufficiently to accommodate demand by jobs.
2) The lowest end workers finally got enough of a lifeline, even if only for a short time, to realize how badly they were underpaid and how much they need to really have a modestly OK life. Combine with all the services that let them work in the first place (care for children, like daycare and schools) unable to provide due to the pandemic and this is hard-stalled between less workers and workers who hold out for more in what is finally a sellers market.
3) I don't have first hand observational data on this, but my gut feeling is that it's harder for businesses that used to do under the table work with citizens / undocumented immigrants to fully staff, and all the more likely for the pandemic to harm tightly packed workers in processing places. It would be nice to hear more about documented guest worker programs that legitimize migrant worker practices, while also ensuring that they're paid enough to discourage undercutting the local job market.
I'll also note: Rent affects the businesses too... and food prices might go up based on their (mistaken) belief that consumers can afford to pay more. I have cut back to lower quality options and rarer treats for some options in the last half year as prices have risen past the points I'm willing to buy at.
1) PRIMARY factor. The rent is too damned high. It has been and people have been cramming together like sardines; but just like the car rush as PPE bubbles, now people want all the housing everywhere even MORE than the last 30-50 years when it wasn't being built sufficiently to accommodate demand by jobs.
2) The lowest end workers finally got enough of a lifeline, even if only for a short time, to realize how badly they were underpaid and how much they need to really have a modestly OK life. Combine with all the services that let them work in the first place (care for children, like daycare and schools) unable to provide due to the pandemic and this is hard-stalled between less workers and workers who hold out for more in what is finally a sellers market.
3) I don't have first hand observational data on this, but my gut feeling is that it's harder for businesses that used to do under the table work with citizens / undocumented immigrants to fully staff, and all the more likely for the pandemic to harm tightly packed workers in processing places. It would be nice to hear more about documented guest worker programs that legitimize migrant worker practices, while also ensuring that they're paid enough to discourage undercutting the local job market.
I'll also note: Rent affects the businesses too... and food prices might go up based on their (mistaken) belief that consumers can afford to pay more. I have cut back to lower quality options and rarer treats for some options in the last half year as prices have risen past the points I'm willing to buy at.