June 20, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Real weekly earnings, May 2005

Real average weekly earnings rose by 0.3 percent from April to May after seasonal adjustment.

Change from preceding month in real average weekly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls, May 2004 – May 2005 (seasonally adjusted)
[Chart data—TXT]

This was due to a 0.2-percent increase in average hourly earnings and a 0.1-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 2.6 percent, seasonally adjusted, from May 2004 to May 2005; after deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings decreased by 0.3 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 for the two most recent months are preliminary and subject to revision. Find out more in "Real Earnings in May 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-1055.

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