Economy

Japan Real Wages Fall 0.6％ in Jan.

REUTERS/Issei Kato
Office and residential buildings in Tokyo.

Jiji Press

11:59 JST, March 7, 2024

Tokyo (Jiji Press)—Japan’s inflation-adjusted real wage index in January went down 0.6 pct from a year before as price increases outpaced nominal wage growth, the labor ministry said Thursday.

The index fell for the 22nd straight month, but the pace of decline slowed from the previous month.

Nominal monthly wages rose 2.0 pct to ¥282,270 per worker. Regular pay including basic salary grew 1.4 pct, and overtime and other nonregular pay edged up 0.4 pct. Special pay including bonuses jumped 16.2 pct.

The consumer price index excluding imputed rent, used to calculate the real wage index, rose 2.5 pct in January. Although the rise was smaller than in the previous month, it continued to outpace the increase of nominal wages.

The average nominal wage increased 2.3 pct to ¥369,239 for full-time workers and 2.2 pct to ¥101,358 for part-timers. Monthly work hours per head were down 0.6 pct at 127.1 hours.