TOKYO, June 7 (Reuters) - Japan's real wages posted the largest drop in four months in April, the government said on Tuesday, as a surge in inflation eclipsed a rise in nominal wages, eroding workers' purchasing power. The report highlights the challenge policymakers face as they seek to soften the blow to Japanese households from rises in global energy and raw material prices that are widely pushing up the cost of food and many other essentials. Inflation-adjusted real wages, a barometer of households' purchasing power, slumped 1.2% in April from a year earlier, as price rises outpaced a gain in nominal wages, labour ministry data showed. The fall marked the first and biggest decline since a 1.3% drop in December, the data showed. The consumer price index the ministry uses to calculate real wages, which includes fresh food prices but excludes owners' equivalent rent, rose 3.0% in April, its biggest jump since a 3.4% gain in October 2014. That outpaced nominal total cash earnings, which increased 1.7% in April, down from the previous month's upwardly revised 2.0% rise, the data showed. Overtime pay, a key indicator of strength in corporate activity, rose 5.9% in April from the same period a year earlier, its biggest gain in eight months. Special payments, which include the discretionary seasonal bonuses that firms tend to slash when they face headwinds, rose 7.2% in April, below March's 13.9% rise. The following table shows preliminary data for monthly incomes and numbers of workers in April: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Payments (amount) (yr/yr % change) Total cash earnings 283,475 yen ($2,170.23) +1.7 -Monthly wage 271,341 yen +1.5 -Regular pay 251,417 yen +1.1 -Overtime pay 19,924 yen +5.9 -Special payments 12,134 yen +7.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Number of workers (million) (yr/yr % change) Overall 51.133 +0.5 -General employees 35.399 +0.4 -Part-time employees 15.734 +0.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------- The ministry defines "workers" as 1) those who were employed for more than one month at a company that employed more than five people, or 2) those who were employed on a daily basis or had less than a one-month contract but had worked more than 18 days during the two months before the survey was conducted, at a company that employs more than five people. To view the full tables, see the labour ministry's website at: http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-l/index.html ($1 = 130.6200 yen) (Reporting by Daniel Leussink Editing by Tomasz Janowski) (([email protected]; Twitter: @danielleussink;)) Keywords: JAPAN ECONOMY/WAGES (URGENT)
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