Average monthly pay dropped 2.4% in 2002

Average monthly pay in all industries in 2002 fell 2.4 percent from the previous year to 343,480 yen, the government said in a revised report Monday.

The percentage drop, the largest since comparable data were first taken in 1991, was revised from a 2.3 percent fall reported in a preliminary report released in early February, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.

Adjusted for changes in consumer prices, the real wage declined 1.3 percent, a revision from the preliminary 1.2 percent drop, according to the report, which covers companies employing five or more people. Both figures marked the second straight yearly fall.

The ministry also said average work hours for 2002 came to 1,825 per person at companies with five employees or more, down 11 by hours from the previous year.

The average work hours remained unchanged from the preliminary report, the ministry said.

At companies with 30 employees or more, average yearly work hours for the reporting year dropped by 11 hours to 1,837, marking a second consecutive yearly decline.

The work hours were one hour short of the preliminary figure, the ministry said.

The government has set a target of reducing yearly work hours to 1,800 by fiscal 2005 at companies with at least 30 employees.

Ad spending down

Advertising expenditures in Japan totaled 5.7 trillion yen in 2002, down 5.9 percent from the previous year, marking the second straight year of decline, advertising agency Dentsu Inc. said in a report Monday.

The expenditures were hit by a further downturn in the economy, as characterized by the uncertain employment and income outlook, continuation of deflationary pressure and plummeting stock prices, Dentsu said.

“The net result was that a number of corporations cut down on advertising spending,” the agency said.

The nation’s advertising spending grew in 2000 after three years of decline as the economy showed signs of recovery amid an information-technology boom.

But the expenditures began to shrink again in the second half of 2001, and spending in 2002 failed to reach the previous year’s level throughout the year, Dentsu said.

The agency said spending on advertising in television, newspapers, magazines and radio declined in 2002 for the second straight year.

Television advertising expenditures, the largest component among the four, fell 6.4 percent to 1.94 trillion yen, while newspaper advertising, the second largest, dropped 11 percent to 1.07 trillion yen.

But Internet advertising expenditures showed steady growth of 15 percent to 84.5 billion yen, Dentsu said.

By industry, advertising spending by companies in the precision instruments/office supply and cosmetics/toiletries sectors exceeded the 2001 levels, while that by those in the hobbies/sporting goods sectors was firm.

However, 19 out of 21 industry sectors failed to reach the 2001 levels, Dentsu said.