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Japan's real wages fall for 19th straight month in October

TOKYO
2023-12-08 17:27

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TOKYO, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Japan's average monthly wages in inflation-adjusted terms logged the 19th straight month of decline in October as price increases continued to outpace nominal earnings growth, official data showed on Friday.

Inflation-adjusted real wages, a barometer of consumer purchasing power, fell 2.3 percent from October last year, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Nominal monthly earnings, including base pay and overtime, rose 1.5 percent from a year ago to reach 279,172 yen (about 1,937 U.S. dollars), failing to keep up with soaring consumer prices despite an increase for the 22nd straight month.

Regular pay including basic salary in October went up 1.3 percent year on year, while overtime pay, a gauge of business activity, went down 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the consumer price index excluding imputed rent, used to calculate the real wage index, grew 3.9 percent year on year, the preliminary data showed.

Separate data released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on Friday showed household spending in Japan declined year on year for the eighth straight month.

Citing insufficient nominal wage growth compared to the soaring inflation, analysts here noted that the continuous decline in real wage levels is expected to restrain household purchasing power, impacting consumer spending and potentially slowing down Japan's economic recovery.
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