January - Wages up for 1st time in 20 Months

Average monthly wages at Japanese companies with at least five employees edged up 0.1 percent in January from a year before to 273,142 yen, marking the first increase since May 2008, a labor ministry monthly report showed Wednesday.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry attributed the increase to an upswing in overtime pay, which slumped sharply in January 2009 amid the global financial crisis following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September 2008.

Monthly overtime hours in the manufacturing sector, a key gauge to assess the overall economic trend, surged 30.1 percent to 12.1 hours in January. Overall, overtime hours averaged 9.4 hours, up 3.4 percent.

Of the total wages paid in the reporting month, scheduled pay, including basic salary, decreased 0.5 percent to 243,861 yen for the 18th consecutive month of decline, the ministry said in a preliminary report.

Nonscheduled pay, including overtime pay, grew 2.2 percent to 17,535 yen for the first increase in 18 months, the ministry said.

The combined number of workers who are employed under contract for at least one month and those employed for an indefinite period of time inched down 0.2 percent to about 43,887,000.

The number of full-time employees dipped 0.4 percent to about 31,872,000, while that of part-timers increased 0.5 percent to about 12,015,000, the ministry said.

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