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What Do the 12 Days of Christmas Cost This Year? A Lot More Than 12 Days’ Work

12/14/2022   CUToday

PITTSBURGH–The Twelve Days of Christmas are going to require many more days of work to pay for all of them in 2022.

PNC Bank has released its annual Twelve Days of Christmas expense index in which it tabulates what it would cost to purchase all of the items mentioned in the famous holiday song, which is sometimes better known as the “Partridge in a Pear Tree” song.

PNC’s conclusion this year: Shoppers will need to have “significantly more money on-hand to fill stockings this holiday shopping season.”

The average unit price tag for the PNC CPI Index in 2022 is $45,523, an increase of $4,118 over 2021, or about 10.5%.  The bank said the "True Cost of Christmas," which accumulates the total cost of all 78 units (364 gifts), increased to $197,071 from last year's total of $179,454 - or about 9.8%.

12 Days of Christmas

The "Core" cost of Christmas - excluding the more volatile and unpredictable gift prices - was $118,322, compared with last year's total of $100,704, according to PNC.

The bank’s analysis found that with rising costs in the employment sector, average wage-related costs for the five related items were 15.3% higher. Five of the remaining seven items experienced a collective average increase of 5.4%.

Adding Up the Tab

Among the findings for some of the 12 days:

  • Supply and demand has created market competition within the fowl sector, namely for Partridges, Turtle Doves and French Hens, which in 2022 are seeing a collective price increase of 29.4%, mainly due to higher cost of feed. The good holiday news: the market for Calling Birds and Swans A-Swimming was unchanged for another year.
  • After falling -5.3% in 2021, Gold Rings increased in price by 39.1% in 2022, the highest increase of all elements. “This coincides with increases in the spot price for gold as Santa has been hoarding precious metals to fight inflation,” the bank said. “Geese A-Laying continued their flying higher, climbing 9.1%5 in 2022, after jumping 15.8% in 2021 and 35.7% in 2020.”
  • The lifting of pandemic restrictions has led to an increase in live performances, but that’s been offset by the tight labor market, which has caused the cost for Lords-a-leaping, Pipers Piping, Drummers Drumming and Ladies Dancing to increase a collective 15.3%. Ladies-Dancing wages rose 10% while Lord A-Leaping increased 24.2%--"something that certainly will continue to fuel arguments over wage inequality,” according to the bank.

Moreover, the cost for Maids A-Milking (the only unskilled workers in the index), hasn't changed in more than a decade, reflecting the stagnate level in minimum wage rates, the annual measure added.

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