Japanese Wages, Spending Drop in March

Average wages and household spending in Japan fell in March, with the country’s economic troubles hitting blue-collar workers the hardest, the government said Friday.

The average monthly salary declined for the eighth straight month to $2,374, 1.5% less than last year when inflation is taken into account, the Labor Ministry said.

For the fiscal year ended March 31, salaries fell 1.2%, their first decline in four years.

Working-class households saw monthly salaries drop 2.5% in March, the fifth consecutive decline, the Management and Coordination Agency said.

Meanwhile, household spending dropped 5.7%. Purchases of housing, furniture and clothing posted the biggest declines.

The reports are the latest signs that the world’s second-largest economy is on the rocks. Growth has been stagnant since overheated property and stock prices crashed in the early 1990s.

The Labor Ministry blamed the drop in salaries on a decline in overtime work.

Overtime hours in the manufacturing sector plunged 14.8% to 14.4 hours per month in March, the biggest drop in 45 months, the ministry said.

That helped drive the average Japanese work year down to 1,888 hours in the year ended March 31, its first drop below 1,900 hours since the government started keeping track in 1984.