[sarcasm]

Real wages are down again - how wonderful:

Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey (National)

Series Catalog:

Series ID : CES0500000051

Seasonally Adjusted
Super Sector : Total private
Industry : Total private
NAICS Code : N/A
Data Type : AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS, 1982 DOLLARS

Data:

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Ann
2003	279.00	278.16	277.49	276.67	279.19	279.29	279.24	278.08	277.33	278.96	281.09	278.80
2004	279.68	279.48	278.53	277.98	277.61(p)	275.45(p)

[Ramius]

I am considering leaving my job, and will be considering many different options, but I fully expect to take something at way less than half my current salary.

At this point I'm after a simpler life. Less stress. No midnight emergency conference calls. Weekends off.

[Congressman Billybob]

If you hadn't noticed, the designation (p) tells you that the last two months indicate "partial" data. Wages are stable, not down. A variation of about 0.3% prior to those months, either up or down, is not a trend, but is merely statistical noise.

Thanks for providing the data to show that earnings are stable.

John / Billybob