The average bonus paid by companies this winter came to 432,261 yen, down 5 percent from the year before for the largest comparable percentage drop on record, the labor ministry said Monday.
It was the sixth straight yearly decline, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said in a preliminary report. Comparable data were first taken in 1991.
Some 33,000 companies nationwide with at least five workers were covered in report.
The ministry also released its preliminary results for employment statistics for February. Overtime hours at manufacturers, an indicator of business activity, rose 16.5 percent to an average of 14.8 hours per month for the 10th consecutive month of increase.
Overtime hours in all industries rose 6.5 percent to an average of 9.9 hours for the eighth straight month of gain.
Reflecting the continued increase in overtime, the average monthly wage at companies rose 0.2 percent to 279,027 yen in February, marking the first rise in 26 months.
But a ministry official said it is unclear whether the wage gain will be maintained in its revised report.