November 20, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Real earnings up in October

Real average weekly earnings increased by 0.5 percent from September to October after seasonal adjustment.

Composition of change in real average weekly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls, October 2003
[Chart data—TXT]

The change resulted from a 0.1-percent increase in average hourly earnings, a 0.3-percent increase in average weekly hours, and a 0.2-percent decrease in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

Average weekly earnings rose by 2.4 percent, seasonally adjusted, from October 2002 to October 2003. After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings increased by 0.5 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 October 2003" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 03-735.