Public dataset
Current Employment Statistics, monthly employment, hours, and earnings
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Rows
- 115
- Years
- 2017-2026
- Accessed
- Aug 13, 2026
Canonical indicator / hourly-earnings
Total private average hourly earnings
Seasonally adjusted average hourly earnings for total-private payroll employees in current dollars. The series is nominal and composition-sensitive.
National economic contextcurrent dollars per hourCalendar month2017-01-2026-07
2026-07 latest
$37.62+$11.62 from 2017-01- Observations
- 115
- 1 bounded entity
- Coverage
- 2017-2026
- 10 observed periods
- Sources
- 1
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Exact pair
- r 0.745
- 115 entity-period matches
Indicator dossierHourly earnings115 observations / 2017-2026
01 / Measurement contract
Definition before comparison
The unit, universe, period, and source boundary travel with every observation.
What this series measures
Seasonally adjusted average hourly earnings for total-private payroll employees in current dollars. The series is nominal and composition-sensitive.
The National Economic Context Observatory places exact source observations on one dated workspace, but it does not merge their units, frequencies, universes, seasonal-adjustment conventions, or release calendars. Monthly, quarterly, calendar-year, and fiscal-year signals keep independent scales. Missing periods are not interpolated or carried forward. These descriptive accounts do not establish concentration, profits, markups, employer power, a legal antitrust market, policy effectiveness, welfare effects, or causation, and they are never combined into a composite score.
- Indicator ID
- hourly-earnings
- Unit
- current dollars per hour
- Observation dimension
- Native publication period
- Grouping field
- Evidence system
- Period basis
- Calendar month
- Ranking contract
- Compare observed periods within one bounded series
02 / Observed variation
Fiscal-year range and trajectory
2017-01-2026-07; absent and withheld values do not enter the distribution.
- Minimum
- $26.00
- 25th percentile
- $27.90
- Median
- $31.10
- 75th percentile
- $34.60
- Maximum
- $37.62
Selected interval$26.00 to $27.2019 observations / 16.5% of the snapshot
Ranked reference rowscurrent dollars per hour
- 012026-07United States employment$37.62
- 022026-06United States employment$37.60
- 032026-05United States employment$37.49
- 042026-04United States employment$37.41
- 052026-03United States employment$37.35
- 062026-02United States employment$37.27
- 072026-01United States employment$37.15
- 082025-12United States employment$37.02
- 1142017-02United States employment$26.07
- 1152017-01United States employment$26.00
03 / Coverage and quality
Where the series has evidence
Observed rows are counted explicitly by period, group, verification status, and confidence level.
Period ledger10 observed periods
20171 entity121 source
20181 entity121 source
20191 entity121 source
20201 entity121 source
20211 entity121 source
20221 entity121 source
20231 entity121 source
20241 entity121 source
20251 entity121 source
20261 entity71 source
Evidence stateAll indicator observations
Data status
98.3%Verified / 1131.7%Preliminary / 2Confidence
100.0%High / 115Evidence systemLatest bounded snapshot, largest groups first
| Group | Rows | Average | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment and earnings | 115 | $31.40 | $26.00 to $37.62 |
04 / Exact paired lens
Private payroll employment and hourly earnings
Published total-private payroll employment and nominal average hourly earnings for the same calendar month.
Same entity + same period0.745Pearson correlation across 115 exact pairs
-1 inverse 0 +1 aligned
- Pairing rule
- Same total-private CES universe and exact calendar month
- Companion indicator
- Payroll employment
- Matched current-series rows
- 115 / 115 (100.0%)
- Unpaired current-series rows
- 0; excluded from correlation
Interpretation boundaryThe National Economic Context Observatory places exact source observations on one dated workspace, but it does not merge their units, frequencies, universes, seasonal-adjustment conventions, or release calendars. Monthly, quarterly, calendar-year, and fiscal-year signals keep independent scales. Missing periods are not interpolated or carried forward. These descriptive accounts do not establish concentration, profits, markups, employer power, a legal antitrust market, policy effectiveness, welfare effects, or causation, and they are never combined into a composite score. Payroll jobs and nominal hourly earnings retain different units; their association is descriptive and composition-sensitive.
05 / Source custody
Evidence behind the series
1 source family, 0 contextual references, and 1 encoded methodology note.
Reusable indicator packetExact rows, stable identifier, and explicit route contract
- Canonical URL
- /indicators/hourly-earnings
- Indicator filter
- indicator=hourly-earnings
- License
- Antitrust Radar compilation: CC BY 4.0; upstream terms remain in force
Method notes encoded on rowsNo inferred methodology is substituted
- 01
Seasonally adjusted average hourly earnings for total-private payroll employees in current dollars. The series is nominal and composition-sensitive.
Indicator evidence guardrail
One measure, one contract
This profile documents one bounded indicator at a time. Its ranks, distributions, histories, and paired views remain inside the stated universe, period basis, source, unit, and methodology; they are descriptive research screens, not legal findings or components of a composite score.
The National Economic Context Observatory places exact source observations on one dated workspace, but it does not merge their units, frequencies, universes, seasonal-adjustment conventions, or release calendars. Monthly, quarterly, calendar-year, and fiscal-year signals keep independent scales. Missing periods are not interpolated or carried forward. These descriptive accounts do not establish concentration, profits, markups, employer power, a legal antitrust market, policy effectiveness, welfare effects, or causation, and they are never combined into a composite score.