As Labor makes a pitch to minimum-wage workers, the Coalition proposes a new government agency to attract private investment to Australia.

Trump says America is getting richer. The paycheck says maybe.The receipt says not so fast: in many parts of the country, the cost of everyday life is still rising faster than the purch power of wages

Accelerating inflation pushed real wages down by 6.9% y/y in May, the sharpest annual decline in purchasing power in the past decade.

Smic 2026 : +34€ net par mois au 1er juin, mais cette hausse automatique ne rattrape pas l'inflation des jeunes, écrasés par le logement et l'énergie.

Wage growth at 3.4% trails inflation at 3.8%, and the RBA just raised rates. Here's why Australian workers are falling behind.

Real wages dropped 0.3% in 2025 as inflation outpaced pay rises for the first time in two years. Recovery won't come until mid-2027.

This chart shows the year-over-year change in consumer prices, real and nominal hourly earnings in the United States.

Japan’s inflation-adjusted real wages fell 1.2% year-on-year in February, marking the second consecutive monthly decline. The drop follows a revised 2.8% fall in January and highlights the continued pressure on household purchasing power from elevated inflation. The consumer inflation rate used to calculate real wages — which includes fresh food but excludes rent — rose 4.3% in February, only slightly easing from January’s 4.7%. Despite nominal income growth, this persistent inflation eroded wage gains. Total cash earnings, or nominal wages, rose 3.1% year-on-year in February, accelerating from a revised 1.8% increase in January. The figure was supported by a surge in special payments, such as bonuses, which jumped 77.4% compared to the previous year. Overtime pay, often seen as an indicator of business activity, climbed 2.2% in February, up from January’s revised 1.5%. Regular pay, however, rose at a slower pace of 1.6%, down from 2.1% in the previous month. Looking ahead, wage data may strengthen from April onwards, as the effects of this year’s spring wage negotiations take hold. According to Rengo, Japan’s largest trade union federation, companies have agreed to an average pay hike of 5.4% in 2025 — the biggest increase in over three decades. This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese real wages turned positive for the first time in seven months on the back of hefty summertime bonuses, but elevated inflation added to pressure on consumption, data showed on Friday. Inflation-adjusted real wages, a key determinant of households’ purchasing power, edged up 0.5% in July from a year earlier, the first increase since December last year when they inched up by 0.3%. Special payments, including the bonuses, jumped 7.9%, labour ministry data showed. "The significant contribution to real wage growth comes from factors such as bonus increases and the steady rise in regular wages," a labour ministry official said. The consumer inflation rate the ministry uses to calculate real wages, which includes fresh food prices but not rent costs, rose 3.6% year-on-year in July. While it rose at the slowest pace since November last year, it far exceeds the Japanese central bank’s 2% inflation target. Regular pay, or base salary, grew 2.5% in July, the fastest rise in seven months. Overtime pay, a barometer of strength in corporate activity, rose 3.3%, the highest since November 2022. Total cash earnings, or nominal pay, increased 4.1% to 419,668 yen ($2,848.49) in July, the fastest growth in seven months. Major Japanese firms on average agreed to pay hikes of more than 5% during annual spring wage talks this year. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said last month that wage hikes were spreading beyond large firms and likely to keep accelerating due to a tightening job market, but there are lingering worries that the U.S. tariffs would cause a global economic slowdown and squeeze corporate profits. 3rd party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Investing.com. See disclosure here or remove ads. ($1 = 147.3300 yen) AI computing powers are changing the stock market. Investing.com's ProPicks AI includes dozens of winning stock portfolios chosen by our advanced AI. Year to date, 3 out of 4 global portfolios are beating their benchmark indexes, with 98% in the green. Our flagship Tech Titans strategy doubled the S&P 500 within 18 months, including notable winners like Super Micro Computer (+185%) and AppLovin (+157%). Which stock will be the next to soar?

By Satoshi Sugiyama TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s real wages fell in June for the sixth consecutive month as inflation continued to outpace pay growth, government data showed on Wednesday, raising concerns about consumption-led recovery in the world’s fourth-largest economy. Inflation-adjusted real wages, a key determinant of households’ purchasing power, fell 1.3% in June from a year earlier, following a revised 2.6% drop in May. While June’s drop in real wages was the slowest since January, it highlights broader pressures on consumption. Core inflation has exceeded the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) target, potentially giving the central bank leeway to raise interest rates as it unwinds years of loose monetary policy, but factors such as geopolitics and tariffs are looming economic risks. The consumer inflation rate the ministry uses to calculate real wages, which includes fresh food prices but not rent costs, rose 3.8% year-on-year in June, the lowest in seven months. Although special payments grew by 3% in June from the previous year due to summertime bonuses, they failed to keep up with a rise in inflation, a labour ministry official said. Total cash earnings, or nominal pay, increased 2.5% to 511,210 yen ($3,476) in June, picking up pace from a revised 1.4% rise in May and the fastest rise in four months. Regular pay, or base salary, rose 2.1% in June, while overtime pay edged up 0.9%. Major Japanese firms on average agreed to pay hikes of more than 5% during annual spring wage talks. The labour ministry had said previously the result may not be significantly reflected in the wage statistics until summer. Smaller firms, which lack labour unions, are slower to implement pay hikes compared with larger corporations. Wage trends, crucial to sustaining the momentum in consumption, are among key factors the BOJ is monitoring to determine the timing of the next rate hike. The BOJ last week kept its short-term interest rate steady at 0.50%, and said Japan will see rising wages and prices push underlying inflation towards the central bank’s 2% target. At the same time, the central bank downgraded its assessment of consumption for the first time since March last year, and warned it would stagnate for the time being, squeezed by higher prices. ($1 = 147.0800 yen) Don't miss out on the next big opportunity! Stay ahead of the curve with ProPicks – 6 model portfolios fueled by AI stock picks with a stellar performance this year.. In 2024 alone, ProPicks' AI identified 2 stocks that surged over 150%, 4 additional stocks that leaped over 30%, and 3 more that climbed over 25%. That's an impressive track record. With portfolios tailored for Dow stocks, S&P stocks, Tech Stocks, and Mid Cap stocks, you can explore various wealth-building strategies. So if 8301 is on your watchlist, it could be very wise to know whether or not it made the ProPicks lists.

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese real wages in May fell at the fastest pace in nearly two years as persistent inflation continued to outpace wage growth and hinder consumption-led growth in the world’s fourth-largest economy, government data showed on Monday. While a labour group report last week showed unionised Japanese workers had their biggest average pay hike in 34 years, the feeble broader wage data spells concerns about Japan’s economic recovery amid uncertainties over U.S. trade tariffs. Inflation-adjusted real wages fell 2.9% in May from a year earlier, following a revised 2.0% drop in April, and the steepest decline in 20 months, labour ministry data showed. Real wages, a key determinant of households’ purchasing power, fell for the fifth consecutive month. The consumer inflation rate the ministry uses to calculate real wages, which includes fresh food prices but not rent costs, rose 4.0% year-on-year in May. That far outpaced growth of nominal pay, or total average cash earnings, which rose 1.0% to 300,141 yen ($2,080) in May, decelerating significantly from a revised 2.0% gain in April and the slowest since March 2024. The main culprit behind the nominal pay growth slowdown was an 18.7% fall in special payments, which are mainly made up of volatile one-off bonuses, according to a labour ministry official. Meanwhile, regular pay or base salary increased 2.0% in May, and overtime pay rose 1.0%, both slowing compared to April. The result of spring labour negotiations may not be significantly reflected in the wage statistics until summer, the official said, adding many respondents in the government survey are small firms that have no labour unions and are slower to adopt pay hikes than big corporations. Data last week showed Japanese household spending surged in May at the fastest pace in nearly three years, offering some hope that consumption might be turning a corner despite cost pressures and wage-inflation gap. Wage trends remain crucial for sustaining this consumption momentum and are among the key factors the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is monitoring to determine the timing of the next interest rate hike. But uncertainties around trade conditions and the global economy threaten the outlook. The looming U.S. tariffs on Japanese exports could squeeze corporate profits, potentially undermining future wage growth and complicating the BOJ’s monetary policy normalization schedule. ($1 = 144.2500 yen)