Real wages in Japan fall 1.3% in July

Jiji Press

11:49 JST, September 7, 2022

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan’s inflation-adjusted real wage index in July dropped 1.3% from a year before, down for the fourth consecutive month, the labor ministry said in a preliminary report Tuesday.

The decline came as inflation in the country outpaced growth in nominal wages.

The consumer price index excluding imputed rents, used to calculate the real wage index, grew 3.1% in the reporting month. The pace of rise in the price index topped nominal wage growth for the fourth consecutive month.

The average total nominal wage was up 1.8% year on year at ¥377,809 per worker in July, up for seven months in a row, according to the labor survey report.

Of the total, regular pay, including basic salary, rose 1.2%, and overtime and other nonregular pay climbed 4.7%. Special pay, including bonuses, was up 2.8%.

Total nominal wages for full-time workers averaged ¥500,828, up 1.7%, and the average wage for part-time workers grew 3.0% to ¥106,167.