Nominal wages, the average total monthly cash earnings per worker, including base and overtime pay, rose a paltry 0.2 percent to 288,741 yen (2,000 U.S. dollars) from the previous year, decelerating sharply from a 1.5-percent increase in October, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Meanwhile, the pay growth marked the 23rd straight month of gain, matching the longest previous streak of increases recorded from January 1991 to November 1992, data showed.
Average monthly nominal wages for full-time workers edged up 0.3 percent to 377,001 yen, and those of part-time workers grew 2.5 percent to 104,253 yen, according to the data.
By sector, electricity and gas workers witnessed the largest gain in monthly earnings with a 5.8-percent hike, followed by those in the finance and insurance industries with an increase of 4.9 percent, while construction workers saw the biggest decline of 2.7 percent.
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