Japan real wages rise for third straight month in March

Japan real wages rose 1% in March, marking a third consecutive month of gains as labor costs climbed. The increase follows spring wage negotiations that secured pay hikes above 5% for a third straight year. These rising labor costs strengthen the case for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates in mid-June.

Average nominal wages rose 2.7%, with total cash earnings at 317,254 yen, according to data released by the Japanese government on Friday morning. While the pace slowed from a 3.4% jump in February, it remained high enough to outpace the 1.6% consumer inflation rate used for real wage calculations. Nearly two-thirds of economists polled by Reuters expect the Bank of Japan to raise its benchmark rate to 1.0% by late June.