September 19, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Real weekly earnings, August 2005

Average weekly earnings rose by 2.7 percent, seasonally adjusted, from August 2004 to August 2005.

Percent change in earnings from the same month a year ago for production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls, seasonally adjusted, August 2004 - August 2005
[Chart data—TXT]

Real average weekly earnings are calculated by adjusting earnings in current dollars for changes in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings decreased by 1.1 percent from August 2004 to August 2005. 

In terms of month-to-month percentage change, real average weekly earnings fell by 0.5 percent from July 2005 to August 2005, after seasonal adjustment.

These earnings data are from the Current Employment Statistics Program. Find out more about the change in earnings and real earnings in Real Earnings in August 2005 (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-1719. These data are for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm establishments. Data for the two most recent months are preliminary and subject to revision.

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