Average Hourly Earnings Posted Their Largest Monthly Gain of 2022 in May

Tight labor markets continue to drive fast wage gains for most workers. For example, in May, the average wage gain for production and non-supervisory workers rose 0.6%, the most rapid monthly increase of 2022. In the past year, this wage series has increased by 6.5%.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes two wage series in the monthly employment report. Wage data for production and non-supervisory workers, which covers over 80% of the private workforce, is the longest-running wage series, starting in 1965.

The wage series for the entire private sector, including supervisory workers, began in 2007. That series rose 0.3% in May and 5.4% in the past year. However, this wage series does not include bonuses, a large part of compensation for supervisory workers. So it does not provide an accurate or comprehensive picture of labor cost pressures.