Average Weekly Hours vs Average Hourly Earnings
Live side-by-side comparison with current values, changes, and key statistics.
Why This Comparison Matters
Hours worked falls before layoffs when demand softens (employers cut overtime first). Wages respond more slowly because contracts and labor market competition stickiness. When hours fall while wages keep rising, margin compression from labor is accelerating (a recession-flag combination). When hours stabilize while wages slow, disinflation without layoffs, the soft-landing pattern.
Cross-Asset Analysis
Avg Weekly Hours (Private) (average weekly hours worked in the private sector, a leading employment indicator) and Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) (average hourly earnings for all private employees, wage growth tracker) are priced in separate markets, yet their co-movement tells macro desks something neither series reveals alone. Structural changes inside Avg Weekly Hours (Private) or Avg Hourly Earnings (Private), such as index reconstitution or methodology shifts, can break historical spread relationships in discrete jumps. Overlay strategies trade the Avg Weekly Hours (Private)-Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) spread through options or swaps when the underlying pair is directly tradable, sizing against realized spread volatility.
The Avg Weekly Hours (Private)-Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) spread captures the tilt between two variants of the same asset: one may be more defensive, one more cyclical. Pairs trading between Avg Weekly Hours (Private) and Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) is common because the spread is more stationary than either individual price, suitable for mean-reversion strategies. Avg Weekly Hours (Private) and Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) occupy the same asset class, and the relative performance between them isolates the specific factor that distinguishes one from the other.
Idiosyncratic events in a concentrated peer, such as a single mega-cap earnings miss inside Avg Weekly Hours (Private), can move the Avg Weekly Hours (Private)-Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) spread without broader factor signal. Late-cycle environments force Avg Weekly Hours (Private) and Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) to express their respective defensive and cyclical tilts more sharply, making the spread a useful regime tell.
90-Day Statistics
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the relationship between Avg Weekly Hours (Private) and Avg Hourly Earnings (Private)?+
Avg Weekly Hours (Private) and Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) are connected through shared asset class exposure with different factor tilts. When the underlying asset class shifts, both respond, though with different sensitivities and at different speeds. The spread between Avg Weekly Hours (Private) and Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) captures the specific macro signal that flows through this relationship.
When does Avg Weekly Hours (Private) typically lead Avg Hourly Earnings (Private)?+
Avg Weekly Hours (Private) tends to lead Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) during rotation episodes between the two factor exposures. In those periods, moves in Avg Weekly Hours (Private) precede corresponding moves in Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) by days to weeks, depending on the transmission channel and the depth of each market.
How are Avg Weekly Hours (Private) and Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) historically correlated?+
Long-run correlation between Avg Weekly Hours (Private) and Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) varies by regime. Peers in the same asset class are highly correlated in direction, with the spread reflecting factor tilts and rotation dynamics. The correlation is not stable: it shifts with macro conditions, and the periods when it breaks down are often the most informative moments in the Avg Weekly Hours (Private)-Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) relationship.
What macro conditions drive divergence between Avg Weekly Hours (Private) and Avg Hourly Earnings (Private)?+
Divergence between Avg Weekly Hours (Private) and Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) typically arises from index reconstitution, mega-cap earnings surprises, or liquidity differences between the peers. When one asset's idiosyncratic drivers dominate, the spread moves in ways that the common macro story does not predict, which is usually a signal to look more carefully at the specific drivers at work in Avg Weekly Hours (Private) or Avg Hourly Earnings (Private).
Is Avg Weekly Hours (Private) a hedge for Avg Hourly Earnings (Private)?+
Peers like Avg Weekly Hours (Private) and Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) do not hedge each other; both rise or fall with the shared asset class, and using the pair as a spread trade is different from using it as a hedge. Effective hedging requires matching the hedge to the specific risk being protected, and the Avg Weekly Hours (Private)-Avg Hourly Earnings (Private) pair is best stress-tested under scenarios the investor most worries about before being sized into a real portfolio.
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Data sourced from FRED, CoinGecko, CBOE, and other providers. This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.