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

Real earnings up in July 2004

Real average weekly earnings increased by 0.7 percent from June to July after seasonal adjustment.

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

This was due to a 0.3-percent increase in average hourly earnings, a 0.3-percent rise in average weekly hours, and a 0.1-percent decrease in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

Average weekly earnings rose by 2.3 percent, seasonally adjusted, from July 2003 to July 2004. After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings declined by 0.7 percent 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 July 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-1588.