Salaries extended their longest slide since 2010, even as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urges companies to raise wages as part of his bid to reflate the world's third-largest economy, government data showed Thursday.
Regular wages excluding overtime and bonuses fell 0.3 percent in September from a year earlier, marking a 16th straight month of decline, according to labor ministry data. Total cash earnings rose 0.1 percent.
The data underline the difficulties Abe faces in getting companies on board in his drive to end more than a decade of deflation among nascent signs of price gains after the Bank of Japan's unprecedented easing. Unions are demanding higher base pay, and the question now is whether firms will agree in wage talks early next year.