TOKYO (XINHUA) – Japanese workers’ real wages in November fell three per cent from a year earlier for the 20th consecutive month of decline as the pace of wage hikes failed to keep up with rising prices, government data showed yesterday.
Nominal wages, the average total monthly cash earnings per worker, including base and overtime pay, rose a paltry 0.2 per cent to JPY288,741 (USD2,000) from the previous year, decelerating sharply from a 1.5-per-cent increase in October, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour 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 per cent to JPY377,001, and those of part-time workers grew 2.5 per cent to JPY104,253 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 per cent, while construction workers saw the biggest decline of 2.7 per cent.
