Higher wages pushed up the cost of perhaps the holidays most elaborate and fanciful gift package from a partridge in a pear tree to 12 lords a-leapin as listed in the classic carol The 12 Days of Christmas.
Each year, PNC Wealth Management, based in Pittsburgh, tabulates how much it costs to acquire the gifts listed in the song, using a Christmas Price Index that typically mirrors the federal inflation-tracking Consumer Price Index.
This year no surprise the songs gift list is more expensive than ever, mostly because the leaping lords, piping pipers, drumming drummers and dancing ladies ran up the bill.
It was the first time in nine years that the rise in labor costs outstripped inflation, said Jeffrey N. Kleintop, PNCs chief investment strategist, who oversees the index.
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