Japan's actual wages in March rose for the third consecutive month, supporting the Bank of Japan's interest rate hike.

Golden Finance reports that on May 8, the Japanese government released data on Friday showing that actual wages in March rose 1% year-on-year for the third consecutive month, further providing grounds for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates at its next policy meeting in late June. The data underscores that Japan’s wage growth momentum is solid: Japan’s spring labor-management wage negotiations have delivered wage increases of 5% or more for the third year in a row. The Bank of Japan will review its interest rate decision again from June 15 to 16. The central bank considers a steady rise in wages and prices to be a prerequisite for another rate hike. A survey shows that nearly two-thirds of economists expect the Bank of Japan to raise the benchmark interest rate to 1.0% by the end of June. As an inflation-adjusted measure of real wages—an essential indicator of household purchasing power—while the figure fell compared with the revised 2% increase in February, it remains higher than the 0.7% increase in January. January also marked the first time in 13 months that Japan recorded positive real wage growth. Japan’s March nominal average wages (total cash earnings) rose 2.7% year-on-year to 317,254 yen (about $2,029.52), after the February figure was revised to a sharp rise of 3.4%. (East News Agency)