BLS releases latest Real Earnings... July 12, 2023

The BLS has released the latest Real Earnings Report. 

Real average hourly earnings for all employees increased 0.2 percent from May to June, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This result stems from an increase of 0.4 percent in average hourly earnings combined with an increase of 0.2 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).

Real average weekly earnings increased 0.5 percent over the month due to the change in real average hourly earnings combined with a 0.3-percent increase in the average workweek.  

Real average hourly earnings increased 1.2 percent, seasonally adjusted, from June 2022 to June 2023. The change in real average hourly earnings combined with a decrease of 0.6 percent in the average workweek resulted in a 0.6-percent increase in real average weekly earnings over this period.

Generally speaking, real income growth has about matched pre-Covid, per the graphs below.

But first, as usual, a few notes about the graphs and underlying data, especially #2 and #3, which seem to fall into the political rhetoric arena....

1. These hourly and weekly figures are in 1982~1984 dollars, so that inflationary impact can be easily seen. The $11.03 per hour in the first graph would be $33.34 per hour in today's dollars. 
2. Much is made about the decrease in hourly wages, but some easy explanation... We can all remember when covid shut everything down, and people were sent home. Some kept working at their jobsite or from home. 
3. Many others went home without a job. A lot of those were lower wage employees, which skewed the hourly and weekly rates upward, until those employees slowly returned to work.
4. I have January, 2020 (pre-covid) on each graph, so that comparisons can be made to current. Also, the unemployment rate then and now are very similar. 

A 3¢ an hour gain since pre-covid. Considering "real" earnings is adjusted for inflation, this can be considered a positive.

Real weekly earnings finally pulled ahead of pre-covid levels. This is good news and hopefully continues.

Then there is what I refer to as the average person categories...

The hourly rate is 2% above pre-covid.

This category is 2.2% above pre-covid. This is the best news of the day and doesn't seem to get any attention. 

Oh well... on to today's energy reports.