MNI: Japan Oct Wages Post Modest Gain; Real Wages Edge Up

--Japan Oct Avg Wages +0.6% Y/Y, 3rd Straight Rise

--Japan Oct Real Avg Wages +0.2% Y/Y, 1st Rise in 10 Months

--Japan Oct Base Wages +0.7% Y/Y, 7th Straight Rise

--Japan Oct Overtime Pay +0.2% Y/Y, 4th Straight Rise

--Japan Oct Special Pay -0.5% Y/Y, 1st Drop in 3 Months

     TOKYO (MNI) - Preliminary average wage data from the Monthly Labour Survey

released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on Friday.

     * Total monthly average cash earnings per regular employee in Japan rose

0.6% on year to Y268,392 in October, posting the third straight year-on-year

rise after +0.9% in September, but real wages remained slow to recover.

     * In real terms, average wages rose just 0.2% on year, the first

year-on-year rise in 10 months after sliding 0.1% in the previous four months.

Real wages last posted a year-on-year rise (+0.1%) in December 2016. The weak

trend was caused by the recent rise in the cost of living.

     * For October, real wages posted a rare gain because fresh food prices

declined on year, pushing down the rate of increase in the total CPI. The

government uses the total CPI minus imputed rents to calculate real wages. The

price index rose only 0.3% on year in October following a 0.9% increase in

September.

     * On the upside, base wages, the key to a recovery in cash earnings, rose

0.7% in October from a year earlier, the seventh straight year-on-year rise

after +0.7% in September. Hourly base wages of regular employees working part

time gained 2.3% on year after +2.3% in the previous month while base wages for

full-time workers rose a modest 0.5% on year.

     * Overtime pay rose 0.2% on year in October for the fourth straight

year-on-year increase after rising 1.2% in September. Overtime working hours

rose 0.7% on year for the 10th straight rise after +1.5% in September while

regular working hours gained 0.7% on year, the first rise in five months after

falling 0.2% in the previous month.

     * Bonuses and other special pay fell 0.5% from a year before in October,

the first straight year-on-year drop in three months after +10.6% in September.

     * Japanese policymakers have been urging firms to share more profits with

workers but firms remain cautious about raising base wages amid uncertainty over

the outlook for global and domestic demand.

--MNI Tokyo Bureau; tel: +81 90-4670-5309; email: max.sato@marketnews.com

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