June 23, 2010 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Real earnings up in May 2010
Real average hourly earnings for all employees rose 0.5 percent from April to May, seasonally adjusted. This increase stems from a 0.3-percent increase in average hourly earnings and a 0.2-percent decrease in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).
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Real average weekly earnings rose 0.8 percent over the month, as a result of a 0.3-percent increase in the average work week combined with the increase in real average hourly earnings. Since reaching a recent low in October 2009, real average weekly earnings have risen 2.1 percent.
Real average hourly earnings were unchanged, seasonally adjusted, from May 2009 to May 2010. A 0.9-percent increase in average weekly hours, combined with the unchanged real average hourly earnings, resulted in a 0.9-percent increase in real average weekly earnings during this period.
These earnings data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. Earnings data for April and May 2010 are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see "Real Earnings—May 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-10-0814.
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