January 23, 2012 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Real earnings in December 2011
Real average hourly earnings for workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose 0.2 percent from November to December, seasonally adjusted. This change stems from a 0.2-percent increase in average hourly earnings, while the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) remained unchanged.
[Chart data]
Real average weekly earnings rose 0.5 percent over the month, as a result of the increase in
real average hourly earnings and a 0.3-percent rise in the average workweek. Since reaching a
peak in October 2010, real average weekly earnings have fallen 1.1 percent.
From December 2010 to December 2011, real average hourly earnings fell 0.9 percent, seasonally adjusted. A 0.6-percent increase in the average workweek, combined with the decline in real average hourly earnings, resulted in a 0.3-percent decrease in real average weekly earnings during the same period.
These earnings data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. Earnings data for November and December are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see "Real Earnings – December 2011" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-12-0062.
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