Japan’s real wages down every month in 2025
7:32 pm Sunday, February 08th, 2026
TOKYO, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Japan’s real wages shrank in December for a 12th consecutive month, as nominal pay growth slightly undershot slowing consumer inflation, labour ministry data showed on Monday.
Wage trends are among the most important data factors for the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to decide the next interest hike, after a December hike of 25bp to 0.75%.
* Inflation-adjusted real wages, a key gauge of consumerpurchasing power, fell 0.1% in December from a year earlier.This extended a contraction that started in January 2025,although the pace of decrease was the slowest since. * Average nominal wages, or total cash earnings, increased2.4% in December from a year earlier, to stand at 631,986 yen($4,029), up from revised growth of 1.7% in the previous month. * Regular pay, or base salary, rose 2.2% in December, alsopicking up pace from revised growth of 1.9% in November.Overtime pay, a barometer of private-sector strength, gained0.9% in December, slowing slightly from November’s rise of 1.2%. * Special payments, consisting mostly of one-time winterbonuses, rose 2.6% in December, up from November’s revised gainof 1.5%. * Full-year released on Monday showed Japan’s real wageswere down 1.3% in 2025, for a fourth year of shrinkage in realannual pay since 2022, when consumer inflation started toovershoot the BOJ’s target of 2%.
($1=156.8500 yen)
(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
