For the past year, average hourly earnings are up 1.7%, while prices are up about 2%.

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For three months in a row the percentage increase in average hourly earnings was 0.3 percent.

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Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.9%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

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Digging deeper into the report, hourly earnings inched up 0.1% and the average workweek was steady at 34.3 hours.

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With unemployment at only 5.3%, America's labour market remains tight and the growth in hourly earnings is steadily rising.

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Real average hourly earnings dropped 0.6% in March, the most since June 2009, after falling 0.5% the prior month.

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The following chart depicts the cumulative distribution of hourly earnings for each of the education classifications reports by the Office for National Statistics.

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Non-farm payrolls grew less in the second quarter than in the first, but hourly earnings rose in June at their fastest year-on-year pace since 2001.

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In the year to November, average hourly earnings rose by 4.1%.

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Mean hourly earnings for men are now 16.25 an hour.

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Furthermore, average hourly earnings rose by .3% during the month, as wage inflation has been lacking for quite some time and has severely lagged a rebound in corporate profits.

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Consumer spending has emerged as an economic bright spot in recent weeks, but Friday's report showed that hourly earnings barely picked up in April, which could give consumers little room to boost spending.

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Adjusted for inflation average hourly earnings in the United States have been decreasing over the past 50 years. 30 year old first time home purchasers do not have the cash flow to buy homes.

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But both hourly and weekly earnings started to rise in the second half of last year, and a jobs report to be published on Friday is likely to show these trends continuing.

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