Monthly pay in Japan show largest growth  in nearly 17 years

March 9, 2017

TOKYO- Basic wages in Japan increased 0.8 pct from a year earlier to 238,737 yen on average in January, registering the sharpest rise in 16 years and 10 months, the labor ministry said in a preliminary report on Thursday.

The average per-worker basic wage, excluding overtime pay and other allowances, extended its rising streak to a seventh month.

The best wage growth since March 2000 can be attributed to a rise in the proportion of full-time employees, generally paid more than part-timers, in the overall labor force excluding workers under short-period contracts.

While both full- and part-time employees increased in number, growth of full-time workers outpaced that of part-timers, according to the monthly statistics.

“Employers are shifting to full-time hiring as the supply of part-time labor is becoming tighter,” a ministry official said.

The proportion of part-timers declined 0.33 percentage point to 30.55 pct.

The ministry also said overall wages in January grew 0.5 pct to 270,274 yen on average per person, with overtime pay and other allowances inching up 0.2 pct to 19,396 yen and, on the other hand, extraordinary pay, such as bonuses, dropping 3.7 pct to 12,141 yen. In price-adjusted real terms, however, the average overall wage remained unchanged, suggesting that inflation offset the nominal pay growth. Jiji Press