TOKYO, (Xinhua): Japan’s real wages in 2025 dropped 1.3 percent from a year earlier, down for the fourth consecutive year as soaring prices erased pay hikes, government data showed Monday.
Nominal wages, or the average monthly cash earnings per worker including base and overtime pay, rose 2.3 percent last year to 355,919 yen (about 2,260 U.S. dollars), marking the fifth consecutive year of increase without considering inflation, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Meanwhile, consumer prices climbed 3.7 percent in the reporting year, accelerating from a 3.2 percent gain in the previous year, weighing on inflation-adjusted wages, a barometer of consumer purchasing power.
Real wages affect private consumption, which accounts for more than half of Japan’s gross domestic product.
In December alone, real wages at workplaces with five or more employees fell 0.1 percent from the previous year, down for the 12th straight month, while nominal wages rose 2.4 percent to 631,986 yen, up for the 48th straight month, the ministry said.
