Salaried workers' standard monthly pay averaged 254,066 yen in October, up 0.5 percent from a year earlier for the seventh straight monthly rise, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Wednesday.
But the average for nonstandard pay, including overtime and allowances for nighttime and holiday work, fell for the first time in three years and three months to 19,147 yen, down 0.1 percent, the ministry said in a preliminary report.
Other statistics on the job market were mostly upbeat.
The number of full-time and part-time workers increased 0.6 percent to 43.23 million, up for the 22nd month in a row, while the average number of monthly working hours increased 0.2 percent to 150.5 hours.
The figures cover firms with five or more employees.