Government employees received their annual winter bonus allowance Friday but few of them were cheering.

For the second consecutive year, the winter allowance given to the 4.44 million national and local government employees fell short of the previous year's level.

For national-level government employees below management rank, this year's winter allowance came to 649,000 yen on average, down 3.4 percent from the 1999 level. For local government employees of equivalent ranks, the average was 607,000 yen, down 3.3 percent.

Following a practice observed in the private-sector, the government pays two half-yearly allowances each year to their employees, from the prime minister on down, using the size of the bonus paid by the private sector in the previous year as a yardstick.

According to the Management and Coordination Agency, the total amount of winter allowance paid this year came to 3.66 trillion yen.

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Supreme Court Chief Justice Shigeru Yamaguchi shared the honor as the top bonus recipients, both receiving an identical 5.87 million yen.

For general administrative posts, Shigehiko Hasumi, president of the national University of Tokyo, topped the list with 3.5 million yen. For Cabinet ministers, only Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, who retained their posts in the Cabinet reshuffle Tuesday, received the full half-yearly allowance, at 4.28 million yen.

None of the newly named Cabinet ministers was paid a bonus.