Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Japan's 2002 average salary posts biggest drop in decade
Associated Press Tokyo, April 30
The average monthly salary for Japanese company employees shrank by 2.1 per cent to 343,125 yen ($2,866) in fiscal 2002 from a year earlier, the government said on Wednesday.
The decline -- the country's second straight fall -- was the biggest since at least fiscal 1991, when comparable figures first became available, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.
Japan has been wrestling with an economic slowdown for over a decade, with continuous price falls pulling down workers' incomes and employers' profits.
Combined monthly basic wages and overtime pay, excluding bonuses, for private sector workers dropped 0.9 per cent to 278,998 yen ($2,331) during the last fiscal year that ended March 31, the ministry said.
Basic monthly salaries fell one per cent to 260,893 yen ($2,180), while overtime pay rose by 1.9 per cent to 18,105 yen ($151) due to growing overtime hours as Japan's unemployment rate remained at record high levels. Bonuses and other special allowances, however, plunged by a record 7.3 per cent to 64,127 yen ($536) a month. Japanese monthly wages comprise base salaries, overtime and special allowances before taxes and social insurance premiums are deducted.
Japanese employees worked an average of 9.7 hours of overtime a month during fiscal 2002, up 3.1 per cent from the previous year. Overtime for employees at manufacturers was particularly long at 14 hours, up 11 per cent, due to a recovery in production in the first half of 2002.
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