Japan's monthly average real, or inflation-adjusted, wages fell 2.2 percent in the last fiscal year to March, declining for the second straight year as inflation outpaced wage growth, the government said Thursday.
The decline follows a 1.8 percent decrease in fiscal 2022 and marks the largest drop since fiscal 2014 when real wages fell by 2.9 percent due to a consumption tax hike, according to the revised data released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Real wage growth has not kept up with rising prices caused by higher raw material costs and a weak yen which lifted the value of imports, making everyday goods more expensive and reducing households' purchasing power.
In March alone, inflation-adjusted wages fell 2.1 percent from a year earlier, marking the 24th straight month of decline, breaking the record of the longest consecutive streak of monthly falls, set around the time of the global financial crisis triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
