Japanese workers’ real wages in November fell 3.0 percent 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 Wednesday.
Nominal wages, the average total monthly cash earnings per worker, including base and overtime pay, rose a paltry 0.2 percent to 288,741 yen (2,000 U.S. dollars) from the previous year, decelerating sharply from a 1.5-percent increase in October, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor 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.—Agencies
