The day Rabia Ali found a job was unforgettable for her family. She had to walk for two hours from her homeland, Siyomba, a small town in Amhara Regional State, to apply for the job at Kombolcha Industrial Park. It was three and half years ago, but Rabia remembers it as if it was yesterday. Earning a monthly salary of 1,450 Br working as a machine operator at one of the textile plants inside the park, the 25-year old got married last year.

Rabia was excited. She was hopeful the job would enable her to save some to help her family, who can barely cover their monthly food expenses and perhaps start a small business of her own. But, the years rolled by, and her dreams remain unfulfilled. Saving from her marginal income was proven a tough chase. Inflation in the double-digits has been the scourge of many in the fixed income group whose wage remains stagnant in the face of the rising cost of living.

“The increasing cost of living has eaten all of my money, taking away my dreams along with it,” said Rabia.

Undoubtedly, she speaks for many, her experience mirroring the galloping inflationary pressure on household incomes.

When she first joined the industrial park, less than 900 Br was enough to buy a quarter quintal of teff, sufficient for a month for a family such as hers. It now costs five times as much in the area where she lives. Edible oil is now on retail sale for as much as 100 Br a litre, increasing from 60 Br.

Shiro, chickpea or bean powder used to make stew, is a staple diet in Ethiopia. The popular imagination considering it low-income families` meal; the cost to prepare a dish depends on the quality of ingredients used. It could cost a household little, and Rabia`s family consumes it on almost a daily basis. Shiro is priced 70 Br a kilogram, a 30 Br upsurge in three years. An item always on the top of her grocery list, berbere (an Ethiopian spice blend), showed an even more dramatic increase from less than 100 Br to 250 Br.

Rent, which comprises one-third of her recurrent household expenditure, rose to 600 Br from 450 Br.

The compounded build-up of prices in living cost represents a 44pc increase since she started work at the industrial park. Her salary grew by a mere eight percent. Inflation-adjusted, her real wage now stands at 1,090 Br, 25pc lower than her purchasing power a few years ago.

“So annoying, indeed,” says Rabia, in exasperation.

Rabia may not have grasped the economics of wage and labour. But she understands enough to describe her life as a “completely tedious” affair. Her story reflects the living conditions of millions of wage-earners, especially those under the fixed and lower-income ladder, across Ethiopia. These are the families most hit, where the official report reveals year-on-year inflation averaged 20pc in the last 12 months.

The state in Ethiopia remains the largest employer, with an estimated 1.5 million people under the civil service payroll. The private sector, largely the financial and the manufacturing sectors, follows where Rabia and many more salaries can  barely cover their monthly expenditure, of which 60pc comprises cost to food items.

The problem is severe in Addis Abeba, a city highly dependent on supplies from regional states and imports to get its food and non-food items.

A resident of Addis Abeba who requested to remain anonymous works in the administration department at the headquarters of the Federal Police Commission and earns a monthly income of around 7,000 Br, half of which goes to pay rent. He spends roughly 30pc of his salary on food supplies, while school fees for two of his three children top the regular expenditure. For as long as he has been employed, he struggled to save up to 15pc of his income for the rainy days. "Unfortunate circumstances and sickness" is how he describes the winter seasons of life.

"This is no longer possible with each of my expenses rising at a higher rate than ever," he told Fortune, sipping coffee at a cafe around the Mekanisa area.

The authorities measure movements in prices and cost of living in the economy; through the federal agency for statistics, they release monthly data on headline and core inflation. In headline inflation, they follow prices that are not adjusted to remove highly volatile and seasonal food and energy prices. Known in the economics jargon as top-line inflation, the data covers year-on-year movement in prices.

Headline inflation in Ethiopia has been in the double digits since August 2017.

Precipitated by the devaluation of the Birr against a basket of major currencies (more so the Dollar) in October 2017 and later by further depreciation as deep as 21pc yearly, the economy saw its highest inflation rates in nine years during March last year, reaching 22.6pc. Though this figure dropped to 19.2pc last month, it remains higher than the eight percent target set by macroeconomic policymakers in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's (PhD) administration.

The rise in wage across sectors of the economy remains stagnant or grow marginally compared to the galloping of prices.