November 20, 2009 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Real earnings in October 2009

Real average hourly earnings fell 0.1 percent from September to October, seasonally adjusted. A 0.3 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) slightly offset a 0.3 percent increase in average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers.

Over-the-month percent change in real average hourly earnings, seasonally adjusted, October 2008–October 2009
[Chart data]

Real average hourly earnings grew 2.8 percent, seasonally adjusted, from October 2008 to October 2009. A 1.5 percent decline in average weekly hours partly offset the increase in real average hourly earnings and resulted in a 1.2 percent increase in real average weekly earnings during this period.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. Earnings data are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see "Real Earnings — October 2009" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL 09-1402.

 

Of interest

Spotlight on Statistics: The Recession of 2007–2009

The most recent recession in the United States began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, though many of the statistics that describe the U.S. economy have yet to return to their pre-recession values. In this Spotlight, we present BLS data that compare the recent recession to previous recessions. Read more »