'Did y’all get a raise?': Dr Phil says you need an additional $11,434 a year to maintain the same living standard you had in 2021 — here’s what the White House numbers say

“This is frustrating, right? Because you both work really hard — you work an extra job, you work an extra job — and you still can’t make it work,” Dr. Phil observed. Jordan echoed this sentiment, responding, “It’s a sad situation.”

Rather than offering immediate advice, Dr. Phil turned to the big screen, where he presented some alarming statistics:

“When you take a look at what’s going on — electricity 25% increase, auto insurance up 33%, used cars up 35%, hotels up 15%, groceries — this matters — up 25%,” Dr. Phil read aloud.

Then came the most shocking figure: “This is a big one — you need $11,434 additional just to maintain the same living standard that you had in 2021. Did y’all get a raise between now and then?”

“No,” the couple answered, shaking their heads in unison.

But how does their situation stack up against federal data?

Did you get a raise?

Dr. Phil did not specify the source of the $11,434 figure, but it appears to stem from an analysis conducted by Republican members of the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee using government data.

In November 2023, CBS News reported on the analysis, stating, “The typical American household must spend an additional $11,434 annually just to maintain the same standard of living they enjoyed in January of 2021, right before inflation soared to 40-year highs.”

Though, the Biden administration has criticized this analysis, labeling it “flawed.”

“Fourteen million more Americans have jobs today than when President Biden took office and household disposable income is up by almost $21,000 since December 2020,” a White House spokesperson told CBS MoneyWatch.

The latest employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also indicates that the average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls in the U.S. reached $35.36 in September 2024, up from $29.93 in January 2021 — an increase of just over 17%.

Battle against inflation

Americans have grappled with rising prices in recent years. In June 2022, the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) saw an annual increase of 9.1%, the largest since November 1981.

However, after significant interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, the headline inflation rate in the U.S. has subsided. In September 2024, the CPI showed a 12-month increase of only 2.4%.

Several experts have even declared victory over inflation.

Last October, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman proclaimed on X, “The war on inflation is over. We won, at very little cost.”

Jeremy Siegel, professor of finance at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton, shared a similar view in a November interview with CNBC.