March 01, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Real earnings in January 2006

Real average weekly earnings fell by 0.2 percent from December 2005 to January 2006 after seasonal adjustment.

Composition of change in real average weekly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls, January 2006
[Chart data—TXT]

This decline stemmed from a 0.7-percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which was partially offset by a 0.4-percent increase in average hourly earnings. Average weekly hours were unchanged.

Average weekly earnings rose by 3.6 percent, seasonally adjusted, from January 2005 to January 2006. After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings decreased by 0.4 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 are preliminary and subject to revision. Find out more in Real Earnings in January 2006 (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-318.