February 24, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Real earnings in January

Real average weekly earnings increased by 0.2 percent from December to January after seasonal adjustment.

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

A 0.1-percent increase in average hourly earnings combined with a 0.6-percent increase in average weekly hours was partially offset by a 0.6-percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

Average weekly earnings rose by 1.7 percent, seasonally adjusted, from January 2003 to January 2004. After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings declined by 0.1 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 January 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-263.