Real earnings for workers have declined 12 percent since 1979.

Without the change, earnings for the year would have declined 3 percent, to $2.8 billion, or $7.51 a share.

As a result, earnings have been declining for several years.

Earnings of younger families under 30 have declined 42 percent in the last 15 years.

The company said last month that its earnings declined 16.4 percent in the second quarter.

Revenue for the year was a record, but 1989 earnings declined from last year's level.

Earnings declined 91 percent in 1995, to $11 million from the previous year, on revenue of $7.1 billion.

The company reported that earnings declined 56 percent, to $74 million in the first quarter, compared with the year before.

But for the full year, Shell's earnings declined 26.2 percent from 1989's results.

But on Tuesday, the company broke the bad news that those earnings would decline.