TOKYO- Japan’s inflation-adjusted real wages fell for the fourth straight month in November weighed down by higher prices even as base pay grew at the fastest pace in more than three decades, government data showed on Thursday.
The Bank of Japan considers various risks in deciding the timing for raising interest rates and the central bank has repeatedly said sustained, broad-based wage hikes are a prerequisite for pushing up borrowing costs.
Inflation-adjusted real wages, a barometer of consumer purchasing power, slipped 0.3 percent in November from a year earlier, falling for the fourth straight month, data from the labor ministry showed. It revised October’s unchanged reading to a 0.4 percent decline.
The consumer inflation rate that the government uses to calculate real wages and includes fresh food prices but not rent or equivalent, rose 3.4 percent from a year earlier, accelerating from a 2.6 percent growth in October, reflecting higher inflationary pressure.
Base salary, or regular pay, rose 2.7 percent in November, marking the fastest increase since 1992, the data showed, after major companies agreed to higher pay at the spring wage negotiations.
Overtime pay, a barometer of business strength, grew 1.6 percent for the month from a revised 0.7 percent gain in October. Special payments, mainly volatile one-off bonuses, climbed 7.9 percent in November, after a revised 2.2 percent fall in October.
