January 20, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Real average weekly earnings, December 2004 – December 2005

Average weekly earnings rose by 3.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, from December 2004 to December 2005.

Percent change in real average weekly earnings, production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls, December-December, 2001-2005
[Chart data—TXT]

After deflation by the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), average weekly earnings decreased by 0.4 percent.

Before adjustment for seasonal change and inflation, average weekly earnings were $551.67 in December 2005.

These earnings data are from the Current Employment Statistics Program. These data are for production and nonsupervisory workers in private nonfarm establishments. Earnings data for December 2005 are preliminary and subject to revision. Find out more in "Real Earnings in December 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-85.

Happy 10th Birthday, TED!

The very first issue of The Editor's Desk (TED) was posted on September 28, 1998. TED was the first online-only publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 10 years, BLS has been committed to posting a new TED article each business day, for a total of over 2,400 articles so far.

Find out more about the story of TED