The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on October 14, 2026 that real average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees fell 0.6 percent from August to September, seasonally adjusted. This national private-nonfarm measure compares average pay with consumer prices. It is not a report that every construction worker, factory worker or technician received a wage cut. Nominal average hourly earnings for this group rose 0.2 percent in September, while the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W, rose 0.7 percent. Pay increased in current dollars, but the inflation-adjusted measure declined. The published real change should be read as BLS reports it rather than reconstructed by subtracting rounded percentages. Real average weekly earnings fell 0.5 percent over the month. BLS attributed the change to the decline in real average hourly earnings combined with no change in the average workweek. Hourly and weekly purchasing power are different measures; weekly earnings also depend on hours worked. From September 2025 to September 2026, real average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees fell 0.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. With the average workweek increasing 0.3 percent over that period, real average weekly earnings fell 0.3 percent. These annual changes should not be substituted for the monthly changes. The all-employee series is separate. For all employees, BLS reported a 0.5 percent monthly decline in real average hourly earnings, using CPI-U rather than CPI-W. Mixing the all-employee wage measure with the production-and-nonsupervisory price measure would describe neither published series correctly. The data refer to September, although the release was published in October. They are broad averages rather than occupation-specific starting wages, local apprenticeship rates or take-home pay after taxes. Workers comparing an offer should keep the location, occupation, scheduled hours and nominal wage separate from this national purchasing-power indicator.