Japan's real wages in November fell 3.0 percent from a year earlier for the 20th consecutive month of decline as the pace of salary growth failed to match price rises, government data showed Wednesday.
Wage hikes are expected after the nation's upcoming annual "shunto" labor-management wage negotiations and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been urging firms to raise wages to a level that outpaces inflation. But whether such hikes can keep up with rising prices is hard to predict at this point, a labor ministry official said.
Nominal wages, the average total monthly cash earnings per worker, including base and overtime pay, edged up 0.2 percent to 288,741 yen ($2,000) for the 23rd straight month of gain, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Average base pay and other scheduled wages climbed 1.2 percent to 272,379 yen, while overtime pay and other nonscheduled wages rose 0.9 percent to 19,788 yen, data showed.
