Average overtime at companies for October was 10.3 hours, unchanged from a year earlier and ending 27 straight months of increase, the government said Wednesday.
The average monthly wage fell 0.5 percent from a year before to 276,510 yen, down for the second straight month, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said in a preliminary report.
A ministry official said the adverse effects of typhoons and a smaller number of weekdays compared with a year before probably contributed to the halt in the rise in overtime.