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Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private (CES0500000003)

Observations

Aug 2026: 37.75
Updated: Sep 4, 2026 8:29 AM CDT
Aug 2026:  37.75  
Jul 2026:  37.65  
Jun 2026:  37.59  
May 2026:  37.49  
Apr 2026:  37.41  

Units:

Dollars per Hour,
Seasonally Adjusted

Frequency:

Monthly

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Notes

Title Release Dates
Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private 2011-03-04 2026-09-04
 
Source    
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011-03-04 2026-09-04
 
Release    
Employment Situation 2011-03-04 2026-09-04
 
Units    
Dollars per Hour 2011-03-04 2026-09-04
 
Frequency    
Monthly 2011-03-04 2026-09-04
 
Seasonal Adjustment    
Seasonally Adjusted 2011-03-04 2026-09-04
 
Notes    
The series comes from the 'Current Employment Statistics (Establishment Survey).'
The source code is: CES0500000003

The Average Hourly Earnings of All Private Employees is a measure of the average hourly earnings of all private employees on a “gross” basis, including premium pay for overtime and late-shift work. These differ from wage rates in that average hourly earnings measure the actual return to a worker for a set period of time, rather than the amount contracted for a unit of work, the wage rate. This measure excludes benefits, irregular bonuses, retroactive pay, and payroll taxes paid by the employer.

Average Hourly Earnings are collected in the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program and published by the BLS. It is provided on a monthly basis, so this data is used in part by macroeconomists as an initial economic indicator of current trends. Progressions in earnings specifically help policy makers understand some of the pressures driving inflation.

It is important to note that this series measures the average hourly earnings of the pool of workers in each period. Thus, changes in average hourly earnings can be due to either changes in the set of workers observed in a given period, or due to changes in earnings. For instance, in recessions that lead to the disproportionate increase of unemployment in lower-wage jobs, average hourly earnings can increase due to changes in the pool of workers rather than due to the widespread increase of hourly earnings at the worker-level.

For more information, see:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CES Overview (https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesprog.htm)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS Handbook of Methods: Chapter 2. Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Establishment Survey (https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/ces-20110307.pdf)

2011-03-04 2026-09-04

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Employment Situation

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Monthly, Not Seasonally Adjusted

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Total Private Current Employment Statistics (Establishment Survey) Population, Employment, & Labor Markets

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Current Employment Statistics Survey (Establishment Survey) Average Earnings Hours Wages Private Employment Seasonally Adjusted Bureau of Labor Statistics Monthly Nation Public Domain: Citation Requested United States of America