October 18, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Real weekly earnings in September 2005

Real average weekly earnings fell by 1.2 percent from August 2005 to September 2005 after seasonal adjustment.

Composition of change in real average weekly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls, September 2005
[Chart data—TXT]

This decline stemmed from a 1.4-percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earner (CPI-W), which was partially offset be a 0.2-percent increase in average hourly earnings. Average weekly hours were unchanged.

Average weekly earnings rose by 2.3 percent, seasonally adjusted, from September 2004 to September 2005. After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings decreased by 2.7 percent over the year.

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 September 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-1971.

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