Japan's real wages mark biggest drop in 8 yrs

Tokyo, Jan 6 (IANS) Japan's real wages dropped 3.8 per cent in November 2022, marking the biggest fall in more than eight years and declining for the eighth successive month, the government said in a report on Friday.

According to the Labour Ministry, average monthly wages fell 3.8 per cent on an inflation-adjusted basis from a year earlier, with the drop coming as the nation grapples with soaring prices for energy and food, further inflated by a weak yen, reports Xinhua news agency.

The latest decline in average wages, as well as falling for an eighth straight month, is also the sharpest slide since wages here were forced down 4.1 per cent in May 2014, when the consumption tax rate was hiked, the Ministry's data showed.

According to the Ministry, the average monthly cash earnings per worker in November edged up 0.5 per cent to 283,895 yen ($2,115), rising for an 11th straight month although the pace had slowed.

Despite the negligible gain, it said when factoring in inflation, real wages had actually declined in the recording period.

In addition, the 0.5 per cent uptick was impacted by a more than 19 per cent drop in bonus and other special payments being slashed, the data showed.

Base pay and other scheduled payments on average increased 1.5 per cent from a year earlier in November to 249,550 yen, said the Ministry.

Overtime pay and other non-scheduled wages were up 5.2 per cent to 19,566 yen, the Ministry also said.

For full-time workers, average monthly wages edged up 0.2 per cent to 368,358 yen, according to the latest data.

Part-time workers' average wages increased 2.2 per cent to 101,888 yen, meanwhile, the Ministry said.