September 21, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Real earnings in August

Real average weekly earnings rose by 0.5 percent from July 2007 to August 2007 after seasonal adjustment.

Composition of change in real average weekly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls, August 2007
[Chart data—TXT]

This increase stemmed from a 0.3-percent rise in average hourly earnings and a 0.2-percent decline in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Average weekly hours were unchanged.

Average weekly earnings rose by 3.9 percent, seasonally adjusted, from August 2006 to August 2007. After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings increased by 2.1 percent.

These earnings data are from the Current Employment Statistics Program. These data are for production and no supervisory workers in private nonfarm establishments. Earnings data are preliminary and subject to revision. Find out more in "Real Earnings in August 2007" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 07-1401.