July 20, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Real wages by industry, June 2003 - June 2004

The average weekly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers rose by 1.7 percent, seasonally adjusted, from June 2003 to June 2004. After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings declined by 1.4 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

Real average weekly earnings in most industry sectors declined over the June 2003 to June 2004 period. Real earnings decreases ranged from 0.6 percent in education and health to 5.2 percent in other services.

Real average weekly earnings increased in two industries: manufacturing (0.7 percent) and natural resources and mining (2.9 percent).

These data are from the BLS Current Employment Statistics program.  See Real Earnings in June 2004 (PDF) (TXT), USDL 04-1309, to learn more. Data on average weekly earnings are collected from the payroll reports of private nonfarm establishments. Real average weekly earnings are calculated by adjusting earnings in current dollars for changes in the CPI-W.  The over-the year comparisons by industry in this report were based on not-seasonally-adjusted data. Industry definitions come from the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).