Newly Released BLS Report Shows Real Earnings Flat In September 2025

Freshly released data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides an updated look at inflation-adjusted earnings for U.S. private nonfarm workers through September 2025. The new “Real Earnings – September 2025” report outlines how wages and consumer prices moved over the month and across the year.

Real Earnings For All Employees

Real average hourly earnings for all employees stayed the same from August to September 2025, after seasonal adjustment. BLS ties this result to a 0.2% increase in nominal average hourly earnings alongside a 0.3% increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).

Real average weekly earnings for all employees slipped 0.1% over the month. According to the BLS, real hourly earnings did not change, and the average workweek also held steady, so weekly earnings moved slightly lower.

Looking year over year, real average hourly earnings for all employees rose 0.8% from September 2024 to September 2025. Since the average workweek remained unchanged over that period, real average weekly earnings increased by 0.7%.

In level terms, real average hourly earnings for all employees measured $11.31 in constant 1982 to 84 dollars in September 2025, the same as in August. Real average weekly earnings were $386.63. Nominal average hourly earnings reached $36.67, while nominal average weekly earnings totaled $1,254.11, based on an average workweek of 34.2 hours.

Real Earnings For Production And Nonsupervisory Employees

For production and nonsupervisory employees, real average hourly earnings dipped 0.1% from August to September 2025, seasonally adjusted. BLS links the change to a 0.3% rise in nominal hourly earnings and a corresponding 0.3% rise in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

However, real average weekly earnings for this group increased 0.2% during the month. The average workweek rose 0.3%, which offset the slight decline in real hourly pay.

Across the year, real average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees increased 0.8% from September 2024 to September 2025. Real average weekly earnings also rose 0.8%, and the BLS reports no change in the average workweek during that window.

In September 2025, real average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees were $9.93 in constant dollars, down slightly from August. Real average weekly earnings were $334.54. Nominal average hourly earnings came in at $31.53, and nominal average weekly earnings reached $1,062.56, reflecting a 33.7-hour workweek.

How BLS Produces These Measures

BLS bases these earnings series on the Current Employment Statistics survey, a monthly establishment survey that tracks employment, payroll, and hours.

To move from nominal to real values, the BLS deflates wages using consumer price indexes. It uses CPI U for the all employees series and CPI W for the production and nonsupervisory series.

BLS also seasonally adjusts hours and earnings to reduce calendar effects. Because of that, the agency recommends using adjusted data to evaluate the trends over the year.

Average hourly earnings come from dividing estimated payroll by paid hours. Average weekly hours come from dividing aggregate hours by jobs. BLS then calculates average weekly earnings by multiplying hourly earnings by weekly hours. For the overall private sector, it sums payroll, hours, and employment across industries. As a result, shifts between higher wage and lower wage industries can affect the averages, along with wage changes inside industries.

Limitations BLS Highlights

BLS emphasizes several cautions when interpreting these figures.

• Weekly earnings averages use the count of private nonfarm jobs, which includes full-time roles, part-time roles, and multiple jobholders. Therefore, weekly averages tend to be lower than measures that only consider full-time workers.
• Annual earnings averages can differ from weekly earnings multiplied by 52. Turnover, layoffs, and other labor market changes help explain that gap.
• These are broad averages across jobs. They do not adjust for occupation, age, education, household type, or geography, even though those factors influence pay and can shift over time.

BLS notes that even with seasonal adjustment, earnings may still fluctuate due to shifts in industry composition, changes in overtime patterns, and related effects.

Key Takeaways For Insurance Industry Readers

The newly released September 2025 report indicates that real hourly earnings remained steady for all private nonfarm employees, while real weekly earnings decreased slightly. Meanwhile, production and nonsupervisory employees experienced a slight decline in real hourly earnings but a modest gain in real weekly earnings, as weekly hours increased. Over the past year, both groups registered 0.8% growth in real average hourly earnings.