Conversations That Matter: If inflation feels worse than the statistics, you're right

Do you feel the rate of inflation is higher than government statistics?

Do increases in prices outpace the increase in your salary?

“The reason it feels that way,” says Judith Bosire, chief economist at Vancity, “is because that is what is happening.

The annual inflation rate in British Columbia is 2.8 per cent as of June 2026 but that is in contrast with the ‘lived’ or economic inflation rate where prices are rising faster than the headlines. Food, for example, is up more than 3.5 per cent and transportation is up more than 6.5 per cent.”

The difference between the reported and lived is because “indexes average everything out for a representative number,” says Bosire.

Now imagine that you are living below the average — access to housing, transportation, quality of food, climate resistant housing all are beyond reach.

Bosire joined a Conversation That Matters about real, up-close, and personal inflation versus the reported average.

Learn More about our guest’s career at careersthatmatter.ca

Join us Sept. 22 for Conversations Live, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.