Real wage losses are at the root of low consumer sentiment — and other UCLA media

Marketplace reported on new findings that the average worker in the U.S. who stayed in their job between 2021 and 2024 saw their wages decline by 9% after inflation. It also found that this real wage decline - rather than inflation itself - is at the root of poor consumer sentiment. Tia Koonse, the policy director at the UCLA Labor Center, explains that if salaries go up but grocery prices go up more, a person's real wage has gone down. "It's not rocket science, right? You gotta increase your wage to keep pace with inflation," she said. Read more about UCLA in today's Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and others.

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More highlights from UCLA in the News: August 18, 2026

Scientists who made 'OnlyMarms' to fund research receive crypto boost | The Guardian

Scientists who turned to OnlyFans to help save long-running research into marmots have raised more than $100,000 after harnessing the support of another, very modern, funding avenue - cryptocurrency … "Our goal isn't really to sexualise the marmots," said Daniel Blumstein, a professor at UCLA who got the idea after watching Margo's Got Money Troubles, a TV show based on a novel about a single mother who turns to OnlyFans in order to support herself and her child. "It's to celebrate the marmots."

Scientists scramble for private cash in response to fresh cuts | Wall Street Journal

Intensifying competition for funding has prompted Kirsten Schwarz, a University of California, Los Angeles, associate professor of urban planning and environmental health sciences, to coordinate more with local nonprofits so they can avoid cannibalizing each other's applications. Schwarz researches ways communities can address soil pollution, including hazards stemming from the LA wildfires last year. (Schwartz was quoted.)

Extreme weather is changing how Americans see the world | Grist

The Gallup study relies on respondents' self-reported perceptions. It doesn't ask when they experienced extreme weather, and the truth is that we don't know much about how such events change people's beliefs in the long run, said Megan Mullin, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has studied public attitudes about climate change and extreme weather.

4 simple balance exercises you can do at home | Los Angeles Times

If you're just starting out with balance training, a routine of basic static and dynamic exercises is a great way to go, says Kimberly Burbank, a sports medicine physician at UCLA Health. The exercises are deceptively simple and easy to master. They require only a minute each - an entire routine is just five minutes a day.

A dementia diagnosis isn't the end. It's a time to take financial action | MarketWatch

Careful planning in the early stages of memory loss can prevent financial and estate-planning headaches later. It could also avoid burdening your caregivers who may not know your wishes for how you want to live and die, said [Dr. Zaldy] Tan, who is also the director of the memory and healthy aging program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and a professor at [David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA].