The nation's workers barely got a pay rise in 2015, with a 0.1 percent increase in cash earnings slower than the 0.4 percent bump in 2014.
Total wages in Japan haven't risen more than 1 percent since 1997 and they fell for the past four years once inflation is accounted for, the labor ministry said Monday in Tokyo.
Higher wages are considered crucial to generate growth and consumption and for the Bank of Japan's efforts to spur inflation. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly called for companies to boost pay, and Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda has said that the level of increase is "somewhat slow" considering the nation's low unemployment and companies' profits.
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