Japan's real wages dropped 2.5 percent in 2023 for the second straight year of decline, as salary increases failed to keep up with inflation, while household spending fell for the first time in three years, government data showed Tuesday.The decrease in real wages, the sharpest since a 2.8 percent decline in 2014 when the country's consumption tax was raised to 8 percent from 5 percent, came despite repeated calls by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for wage hikes that beat soaring prices.Nominal wages, or the average total cash earnings per worker including base and overtime pay, grew 1.2 perc…READ FULL ARTICLE
