Japanese Consumers Are Feeling the Pinch As Real Wages Fall Again

With the yen having undergone its devaluation and import prices having subsequently skyrocketed, the Japanese consumer has been left holding the bag. After taking into account inflation, wages are down by 1.75% YoY (Chart 1) and based on the lagged impacts of the weaker yen they could be headed for a further decline as the year progresses (Chart 2).