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Japan September real wages rise for first time in nine months - government
Japan’s inflation-adjusted real wages rose in September for the first time in nine months, government data showed, offering a glimmer of hope for a recovery in consumer spending - although an Oct. 1 sales tax hike and global slowdown cloud the outlook. The data could support the view of the government and the central bank that a tight labor market should push up wages, stoking a virtuous cycle of household income gains and pick-up in private consumption, which will in turn accelerate inflation. More than six years of massive monetary stimulus by the Bank of Japan has failed to accelerate inflation to its elusive 2% ... (full story)