MM News

TOKYO: Japan’s real wages fell the most in nearly nine years in January, official data showed, as four-decade-high inflation squeezed the purchasing power of consumers and undercut efforts by policymakers to revive a Covid-ravaged economy.

Wage trends in the world’s third-largest economy are under close market scrutiny because Bank of Japan officials have said that pay hikes, combined with 2% inflation, are essential to it scaling back its loose monetary policy.

The central bank is set to maintain its ultra-low interest rates at a policy review on Friday, as it awaits a leadership transition that could eventually end outgoing head Haruhiko Kuroda’s radical stimulus.

Inflation-adjusted real wages, a barometer of households’ purchasing power, fell by 4.1% in January from a year earlier, the largest decrease since May 2014, labour ministry data showed on Tuesday. It followed a revised 0.6% drop in December.

“Real wages have probably hit the bottom in January as government subsidies on electricity and gas charges have taken effect in February and base effects of commodity price hikes have run their course,” said Azusa Kato, senior economist at BNP Paribas Securities.

“Given that wage hikes are gathering momentum towards the annual labour negotiations this month, the Bank of Japan will come under pressure to tweak its yield curve control as early as this week. Even if it stands pat, it will stay under pressure.”

The fall in real wages comes as major Japanese firms including Toyota, Nintendo and Fast Retailing pay heed to policymakers’ calls and union demands by announcing plans for historic pay rises.

Japan’s economy averted recession in the fourth quarter but rebounded much less than expected, delaying a recovery from the scars of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Total cash earnings, or nominal wages, posted a 0.8% year-on-year gain in January, the data showed, much weaker than a revised 4.1% growth in December, when strong one-off winter bonuses drove up overall salaries.