Japanese workers' wages rise in a positive sign for consumer spending - Reuters News

The official data released this Friday morning in Asia showed the wages of Japanese workers rose in August in both nominal and inflation-adjusted real terms.

Nominal cash earnings rose an annual 0.9 percent in the year to August, reversing from the prior month's revised 0.6 percent decline and the fastest gain since July 2016. Inflation-adjusted earnings rose only 0.1 percent; its first positive reading in eight months.

The upbeat data could temper pessimism about the sustainability of the recent improvement in consumer spending.