February 25, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Real earnings decline in January 2005

Real average weekly earnings fell by 0.2 percent from December 2004 to January 2005 after seasonal adjustment.

Composition of change in real average weekly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls, January 2005
[Chart data—TXT]

A 0.2-percent increase in average hourly earnings was more than offset by a 0.3-percent decline in average weekly hours and a 0.1-percent increase 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 January 2004 to January 2005. After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings decreased 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 January 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-305.