August 01, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Decline in wages and salaries in constant dollars, June 2005-June 2006

Measured in "constant dollars," it is estimated that wages and salaries for private industry workers dropped 1.5 percent for the year ended June 2006, compared with no over-the-year change in June 2005.

12-month percent changes in wages and salaries (ECI series), private industry and State and local government, constant dollars, June 2001-06
[Chart data—TXT]

Wages and salaries declined 1.2 percent for State and local government for the year ended June 2006, compared with an over-the-year change of -0.1 percent in June 2005.

These changes are computed in terms of December 2005 dollars using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. City Average All Items, to give an approximate measure of changes in wages and salaries after adjustment for the changes over the same time in the price of consumer goods and services. The unadjusted data on wages and salaries are Employment Cost Index (ECI) series.

These data on wages and salaries are from the BLS Compensation Cost Trends program. For more information, see "Employment Cost Index—June 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-1277.