Japan’s real wages increased for the third straight month in September but summer bonuses fell from last year, the government said Monday, amid uncertainty over whether consumption can be significantly boosted to revive the economy.
Average inflation-adjusted wages grew 0.5 percent from a year earlier, as nominal wages gained 0.6 percent to 265,527 yen ($2,153), the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said in a preliminary report.
Summer bonuses dropped 2.8 percent to 356,791 yen after they increased last year.
Companies have increasingly employed part-timers or rehired the elderly, causing downward pressure on bonuses per person, the ministry said.
The data comes as the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe presses firms to spend their record profits on salaries and investment to help revive the economy, with households facing higher costs for imported goods due to the weak yen and seeing their purchasing power dented by last year’s sales tax hike.
