Regular wages in Japan rose for a seventh consecutive month as the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe presses businesses to boost salaries.
Base pay climbed 0.4 percent in September from a year earlier, the labor ministry said Monday. Overall labor cash earnings, which include overtime and special payments, increased by 0.6 percent and wages adjusted for inflation advanced 0.5 percent.
The central bank needs to see higher earnings so Japanese consumers can buy more to help sustain price gains in a nation that has been dogged by two decades of stagnation.