Japanese data for December 2022:
- total cash earnings +4.8% yr/yr, the biggest jump since January of 1997
- overtime pay +3.0% yr/yr
- inflation-adjusted real wages +0.1% yr/yr, the first rise for this since March of 2022
- special payments (bonuses) rose 7.6%, this is a substantial jump but its not necessarily going to be repeated like a base pay rise would be
Also, Household spending data for December:
- -2.1% m/m and -1.3% y/y
----
Rising wages is something the Bank of Japan wants to see before it is convinced that inflation rises are stable and sustainable. If so the Bank says it'd scale back its ultra easy monetary policy. The data today is encouraging but its not a smoking gun, mush of the gain is in bonus payments, not rises to base rates.
