Japan Real Wages Fall for 3rd Straight Year in FY 2024

Jiji Press

14:14 JST, May 22, 2025

Tokyo, May 22 (Jiji Press)—Japan’s inflation-adjusted real wages fell 0.5 pct in fiscal 2024, which ended in March, from the previous year, down for the third straight year, the labor ministry said Thursday.

Although historic pay increases were achieved in this year’s “shunto” spring wage negotiations in the country, wage growth remained slower than inflation.

Earlier this month, the government set a goal of achieving real wage growth of some 1 pct annually in the five years through fiscal 2029.

While the pace of decline in real wages slowed from a fall of 2.2 pct in fiscal 2023, price hikes for food items such as rice and daily necessities have put pressure on households.

It is uncertain whether the government will be able to achieve the goal, also reflecting persistent uncertainty surrounding the global economy due to the high tariff policy of U.S. President Donald Trump.

In fiscal 2024, nominal monthly wages per worker, including base salary and overtime, rose 3.0 pct to ¥349,388 on average, up for the fourth successive year and marking the steepest increase in 33 years, thanks to the results of the shunto wage talks and higher minimum wages.

Still, the county’s real wages failed to outpace inflation as the consumer price index excluding imputed rent, used to calculate real wages, grew 3.5 pct.

Meanwhile, a real wage index calculated for international comparison using the overall CPI, which includes imputed rent, was unchanged from the previous year, coming out of negative territory for the first time in three years.