Japanese employees' average pay falls 1.7 percent in December

Mon, Feb 18 2008, 02:50 GMT
http://www.afxnews.com

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - The average monthly cash earnings of a regular employee in Japan, including overtime and bonuses, fell 1.7 percent to 597,546 yen in December from a year earlier, the Ministry of Health,

Labor and Welfare said Friday.

It was the 11th fall in average cash earnings in the past 13 months.

The ministry's survey covers companies that employ five or more people and employees who are considered regular, including full-time and part-time workers.

The average basic salary, excluding overtime pay and bonuses, increased 0.4 percent to 250,793 yen, the second straight monthly rise.

The average overtime pay fell 0.5 percent, while the average extraordinary payment - mostly bonus - fell 3.3 percent.

The average total time worked during the month was down 1.8 percent at 150.2 hours. The

average non-scheduled time worked was 11.4 hours, down 0.2 percent.

In the manufacturing sector, the average overtime worked was 17.3 hours, down 0.5 percent from a year earlier, and down a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent from November.

The number of regular employees reached 44.722 million, up 2.0 percent from a year earlier. Full-time employees increased 1.4 percent to 32.949 million and the number of part-time workers rose 3.7 percent to 11.773 million.

(1 US dollar = 107.88 yen)