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Average hourly earnings
Average hourly earnings is up 3.1% from a year ago and has held roughly steady over the last 3 months. That is in its normal range: higher than 54% of readings since 2007.
Latest (vs. a year ago)
3.1%
Latest level
$38.00 an hour
As of
Oct 2026
3-month change
−0.09 % pts
1-year change
−0.80 % pts
20-year percentile
54th
20-year median
3.0%
What it is. Typical pay per hour; compare to CPI for real pay. A higher reading means more labor market strength in the Labor reading. Shown as the change from a year earlier.
What it affects next
It is close to normal and not moving much, so there is no ripple to trace right now.
What is driving it
None of its tested drivers is moving much right now.
All tested links
Wage growth minus inflation = whether households are getting ahead. Typical lag: same month. Strongest match 12 months later (correlation 0.53, 222 observations since 2007).
Source: BLS via FRED (series CES0500000003).