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errata

The headline originally said that real average hourly earnings increased 0.3 percent over the year ended May 2017. It has been corrected to say 0.6 percent.

Real average hourly earnings increased 0.6 percent over the year ended May 2017

June 19, 2017

Average hourly earnings for all employees increased 2.5 percent, and average weekly earnings were up 2.5 percent over the year ended May 2017. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, which is used to adjust earnings estimates for inflation, increased 1.9 percent over the year. After adjusting for inflation, real average hourly earnings increased 0.6 percent from May 2016 to May 2017. This increase in real average hourly earnings, combined with no change in the average workweek, resulted in a 0.6-percent increase in real average weekly earnings over this period.

Over-the-year percentage change in hours and earnings of employees on private nonfarm payrolls, May 2017
Measure All employees Production and nonsupervisory workers

Average weekly hours

0.0% 0.0%

Average hourly earnings

2.5 2.4

Real average hourly earnings

0.6 0.7

Average weekly earnings

2.5 2.4

Real average weekly earnings

0.6 0.6

For production and nonsupervisory workers, average hourly earnings increased 2.4 percent and average weekly earnings were up 2.4 percent from May 2016 to May 2017. After adjusting for inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, real average hourly earnings for these workers increased 0.7 percent over the same period. The increase in real average hourly earnings, combined with no change in the average workweek, resulted in a 0.6-percent increase in real average weekly earnings over this period.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent 2 months are preliminary. For more information, see "Real Earnings — May 2017" (HTML) (PDF). Data from the Consumer Price Index are used to adjust earnings for inflation.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Real average hourly earnings increased 0.6 percent over the year ended May 2017 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/real-average-hourly-earnings-increased-0-point-3-percent-over-the-year-ended-may-2017.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

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