April 19, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Real earnings in March

Real average weekly earnings decreased by 0.7 percent from February to March after seasonal adjustment.

Composition of change in real average weekly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls, March 2004
[Chart data—TXT]

A 0.1-percent increase in average hourly earnings was more than offset by a 0.3-percent decline in average weekly hours and a 0.5-percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

Average weekly earnings rose by 1.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, from March 2003 to March 2004. After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings were unchanged 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 March 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-665.