September 18, 2009 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Change in real average hourly earnings, August 2009

Real average hourly earnings fell 0.2 percent from July to August, after seasonal adjustment.

Over-the-month percentage change in real average hourly earnings, seasonally adjusted, August 2008–August 2009
[Chart data]

This decline stemmed from the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), up by 0.6 percent, outpacing 0.3-percent growth in average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers.

Real average hourly earnings grew 4.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, from August 2008 to August 2009.

These earnings data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. Real average earnings are calculated by adjusting earnings in current dollars for changes in the CPI-W. These data are for production and nonsupervisory workers in private nonfarm establishments. Earnings data are preliminary and subject to revision. Find out more in "Real Earnings — August 2009" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL 09-1125.

 

 

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