Photo/Illutration The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Wages were failing to keep pace with inflation as real wages in April fell by 3 percent compared to April 2022, marking the 13th straight month of a year-on-year decrease.

The labor ministry on June 6 announced wage figures for April, the start of the fiscal year.

Nominal monthly wages increased by 1 percent to 285,176 yen ($2,050), with basic pay accounting for 253,855 yen (a 1.1 percent increase over April 2022) and overtime at 19,699 yen (a decrease of 0.3 percent).

Wages for full-time workers rose by 1.1 percent to 369,468 yen, while part-time workers received 103,140 yen, an increase of 1.9 percent.

The consumer price index used to calculate real wages for April rose 4.1 percent, the first time in three months for the figure to exceed 4 percent.

The spring labor offensive led to a wage increase of 3.66 percent for workers belonging to unions under Rengo (Japanese Trade Union Confederation).

It marked the highest level achieved in 30 years.

While 2 percent of that wage hike should have been an increase in nominal wages, labor ministry officials said it would likely take a few months after April before the change would be fully reflected in wage statistics because companies had different months for implementing the new wage scales.

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