Real wages likely to keep BoJ on hold for now

Welcome news: A worker in a factory in Tokyo. Economists expect real wage growth to turn positive in the middle of this year. — Bloomberg

Tokyo: Japanese workers’ real wages fell in February for a 23rd consecutive month after consumer price growth accelerated, exerting a drag on spending, in an outcome that will likely keep the central bank on hold for now.

Real cash earnings for workers dropped 1.3% from a year earlier, the Labour Ministry reported yesterday, a steeper decline than in the previous month.