Overview
- Inflation-adjusted pay fell 2.8% year on year in November, the 11th straight decline and the sharpest drop since January.
- Average total cash earnings rose 0.5% to ¥310,202, the slowest nominal increase since December 2021.
- Special payments, largely one-off bonuses, plunged about 17% from a year earlier, heavily weighing on the monthly wage result.
- A labor ministry official said preliminary figures likely understate winter bonuses because many firms have not yet reported.
- Consumer prices rose 3.3% on the ministry’s gauge as the Bank of Japan holds its new 0.75% rate, with spring wage talks and Rengo’s 5% pay goal now pivotal.