Japan's real wages fall 1.8% in January, first drop in 3 months

Japan's real wages fell 1.8 percent in January from a year earlier, the first drop in three months, due to higher food and gasoline prices, government data showed Monday.Nominal wages, or the average total monthly cash earnings per worker including base and overtime pay, increased 2.8 percent to 295,505 yen ($2,000) at workplaces with five or more employees, rising for the 37th straight month, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.But the rise in nominal wages was outpaced by a 4.7 percent increase in consumer prices used for the salary data, according to the labor ministry…READ FULL ARTICLE