March 25, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Real average weekly earnings down in February

Real average weekly earnings decreased by 0.5 percent from January to February after seasonal adjustment.

Composition of change in real average weekly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls, February 2003
[Chart data—TXT]

A 0.7-percent increase in average hourly earnings was offset by a 0.6-percent decline in average weekly hours and a 0.7-percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

From February 2002 to February 2003, real average weekly earnings declined by 0.1 percent.

These earnings data are from the Current Employment Statistics Program. 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 in February 2003" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 03-133.

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