Japan saw real wages grow in February
- Claire Lee
- Topics: Employee Experience, Health and Wellness, Home Page - News, Japan, News
Japan’s real wages rose in February for the first time in a year, said the government, which as largely due to prices weakening as the pandemic continued to affect the economy.
Inflation-adjusted real wages, a key measure of households’ purchasing power, rose 0.2% year-on-year in February, according to the labour ministry. This marks the first rise in inflation-adjusted real wages in a year, after a revised 0.6% decline in January, reports Reuters.
“Since the fall in prices was larger than the drop in wages, it [February inflation-adjusted wages] turned positive,” said a health ministry official.
A relatively small number of winter bonus payments in February compared with the prior month reduced pressure on overall nominal total cash earnings, which saw their smallest decline in 11 months, the official added.
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Official data also showed that Japan’s household spending fell for a third straight month in February, recording a decline of 6.6% year-on-year, after a fall of 6.1% in January.
The major sectors that showed a fall in spending were travel package tours, transport, and eating out, as the pandemic changed the spending behaviour of people.
