Inflation Hit the Poor Hardest. The Rich Recovered First.
May 11, 2026 · Frisian News
New data shows that low-income households lost more purchasing power during the inflation surge, while wealthy families rebuilt their savings faster as prices stabilized. The gap between rich and poor widened despite overall economic recovery.
A worker at a supermarket in Amsterdam recorded prices on cereal, milk, and bread each week for eight months in 2024. Her notebook shows a jump of 40 percent on some items. She earned 1,900 euros monthly, spent most of it on basics, and cut everything else. By late 2025, prices had fallen slightly, but her wages had not risen. Meanwhile, families with assets worth 500,000 euros or more reported in surveys that they had already rebuilt their savings and shifted money back into stocks and property.
Official statistics now confirm what many working people already knew: inflation crushed those who live paycheck to paycheck far worse than the wealthy. A study by the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis shows that households in the bottom income quartile lost 8 to 12 percent of their annual purchasing power during the peak inflation period. Households in the top quartile lost only 2 to 3 percent. The reason is simple. Poor households spend almost all income on food, energy, and rent. When those prices spike, they have nowhere to cut. Rich households keep much wealth in savings, investments, and real estate that often rises in value during inflation.
Central banks and governments raised interest rates to cool demand and bring prices down. This strategy worked for stopping inflation but created a second wound. Higher rates made borrowing expensive for anyone with debt. Working families with mortgages saw their monthly payments jump by 20, 30, or 40 percent in countries across Europe. Wealthy households either owned homes outright or had locked in fixed rates years earlier. Banks also paid higher rates on savings accounts, which benefited those with cash reserves. Poor households, with little to save, gained nothing from higher rates.
Economic recovery has also been uneven. Wages for low-wage workers have risen, but only 3 to 5 percent in most countries since 2023. Meanwhile, asset prices have climbed sharply. Stock markets returned 25 to 35 percent over the same period in many European exchanges. Property values rose 8 to 15 percent in urban areas. This means a person who owned shares or real estate recovered their inflation losses and then some. A person whose only wealth was their wage did not.
Governments handed out some relief. Fuel subsidies, cash transfers, and price caps helped during the crisis. But support often came months after prices spiked, and aid was often too small to cover actual losses. Richer countries offered more generous help. Poorer ones cut faster and harder. The result is that the inflation period widened gaps between rich and poor across the continent, and economic growth since then has not closed those gaps again.
In kassapersoniel yn in supermarkt yn Amsterdam skreau acht moannen lang wekels de prizen fan ontbytgranen, molke en brea op. Har notisjeboek lit in stijging fan 40 persint op guon produkten sjen. Se fertsjinne 1.900 euro per moanne, gaf it meast derfan út oan basisbehoefte, en streapte alles oars troch. End 2025 wiene prizen in bytsje sketten, mar har oanslach net stigen. Tuskentroch melden gezinnen mei fertsjinsten fan 500.000 euro of mear yn ûndersiken dat sy har bern al opboud hiene en geld werom yn aksjys en ûnfersette goedkeuring stokt hiene.
Offisjele statistiken befestigje no wat in protte wurkende minsken al wisten: ynflaasje sloech dy't fan salaris oant salaris libje folle hurder as de welstelden. In ûndersiken fan it Bureau foar Ekonomysk Belied lit sjen dat húshâldings yn it leechste ynkoamenskwartiel 8 oant 12 persint fan har jierlikse keapkrêft ferlearen. Húshâldings yn it topkwartiel ferlearen mar 2 oant 3 persint. De reden is ienfâldich. Ierme gezinnen jaan hast al har ynkommen út oan iten, enerzjy en hier. As dy prizen omhichskite, hawwe sy neat mear om yn te bespier. Ryke gezinnen hawwe folle fertsjinsten yn bern, beleggingen en ûnfersette goedkeuring dat faak yn wearde stijt tidens ynflaasje.
Sintrale banken en regearingen ferheegen rentestannen om fraach te temperje en prizen omleech te bringen. Dizze stratejy stopte ynflaasje mar feroarsake in twadde wûn. Hegere rentes makken liene djoer foar elkenien mei skulden. Wurkende gezinnen mei hypotheken seagen har moanskanten mei 20, 30 of 40 persint stije yn lannen oer hiel Europa. Ryke gezinnen bezaat húzen sûnder skuld of hiene jierren earder fêste rentestannen fêstlein. Banken betelle ek hegere rentes op sparekeningen, wat har goede kaam dy geldreserves hiene. Ierme gezinnen, mei weinich te spier, profitearden neat fan hegere rentes.
Ekonomysk herstel is ek ûngelik west. Leanen foar leechbetelle wurknemers binne stigen, mar mar 3 oant 5 persint yn de measte lannen sûnt 2023. Tuskentroch binne aktivaprijzen sterk omhichklommen. Aandelemarken joegen 25 oant 35 persint rendimint oer deselde perioade op in protte Europeeske beurzen. Húsprizen stigen 8 oant 15 persint yn stêdske gebieden. Dit betsjut dat iemand dy aksjys of ûnfersette goedkeuring beseat, syn ynflaasje-ferlis recuperearre en noch wat ekstra krige. Iemand waans ainige fertsjinsten syn oanslach wie, die dat net.
Regeringen joeven wat help. Brânstofsubsidies, kontante stipe en prijsplafonds holpen yn de krisis. Mar stipe kaam faak moannen nei dat prizen waren stigen, en de help wie dikwyls te lyts om werklike ferliezen te dekken. Ryker lannen bienen royalere stipe. Armer lannen snyden flugger en hurder. It gefolch is dat de ynflaasjewiken de kloft tusken ierme en ryke oer it kontinint ferbreidde, en ekonomysk groei sûnt dan hat dy kloften net opnij sluten.
Published May 11, 2026 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân