Monthly wages went up 4,163 yen per worker on a weighted average in 2001, the smallest yearly rise on record since 1980, according to a government survey released Tuesday.
The figure spells an increase of 1.5 percent over the previous year, matching the smallest percentage rise, set last year, since the government began compiling weighted-average data in 1980.
The survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare was conducted in September on 2,628 companies with a workforce of 100 or more, of which 1,781 responded.
The survey found 21.3 percent of the respondents failed to raise wages this year, the largest ratio since the government began compiling the data in 1975.
The record ratio is "attributable mainly to aggravated corporate earnings caused by the prolonged recession," a ministry official said.
Wages were raised by 73.8 percent of the respondents, down from 75.8 percent last year. , with pay hikes at those companies averaging 5,025 yen or 1.8 percent.
Wages at the remaining respondent companies were lowered by an average 12,513 yen or 3.4 percent.
Among other findings, 56.5 percent of the companies that kept wages unchanged and 96.1 percent of those implementing pay cuts blamed worsened earnings for their wage decisions.