The Paycheck Puzzle: Prices, Jobs and Your First Budget
Prices rose faster than pay this September. Your student reads the official data, works out what it means for a West Virginia family, and builds a real first budget.
Price:
$49.00
In September, consumer prices rose 3.7% over the year while average hourly pay rose 3.0%. Your student reads the official Bureau of Labor Statistics releases, checks what those numbers mean for a West Virginia household, and builds a monthly budget on a real West Virginia starting wage. The unit never asks about your family’s own income or debts.
What’s inside
- Five sessions for each path. High school sessions run 50–60 minutes; grades 7–8 sessions run 40–45 minutes.
- Sources: the BLS price and pay releases, BLS state jobs data, West Virginia Tax Division severance tax collections, and May 2025 West Virginia wages.
- Real wage math, unemployment versus participation, a state budget that swings with coal and gas, a balanced budget, and a credit card payoff model.
- High school writing task: a budget plus a family economic report, with a 20-point rubric.
- A full grades 7–8 path: price a family basket, a ten-person model of the labor force, a severance tax graph, a budget poster and simple interest.
- An extension: predict the Nov 10 price report, then check.
- A word bank and a portfolio record.
Grades and standards
Grades 9–12, with a full grades 7–8 path. West Virginia standards: SS.E.20, SS.E.19, SS.E.36, SS.E.29, SS.E.40, M.QR.11, M.QR.13, SS.8.7, SS.8.10, SS.8.12, M.7.3.
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