October 25, 2011 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Real earnings in September 2011
Real average hourly earnings for all employees fell 0.1 percent from August to September, seasonally adjusted. A 0.2 percent increase in average hourly earnings was more than offset by a 0.3 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).
![Over-the-month change in real average hourly earnings for all employees, seasonally adjusted, September 2010-September 2011](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120925061919im_/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/images/2011/ted_20111025.png)
[Chart data]
Real average weekly earnings rose 0.2 percent over the month, as a result of the 0.3 percent increase in the average workweek and the decrease in real average hourly earnings. Since reaching a recent peak in October 2010, real average weekly earnings have fallen 2.0 percent.
From September 2010 to September 2011, real average hourly earnings fell 1.9 percent, seasonally adjusted. A 0.3-percent increase in average weekly hours combined with the decrease in real average hourly earnings resulted in a 1.7-percent decrease in real average weekly earnings during this period.
These earnings data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. Earnings data for August and September are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see "Real Earnings — September 2011" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-11-1500.
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