According to CoinMeta, data released by the Japanese government on Friday showed that real wages in September increased by 2.2% year-on-year, marking the ninth consecutive month of growth, providing a basis for the Bank of Japan to continue raising interest rates. The real wage growth rate, adjusted for inflation, accelerated from 1.6% in August. Average nominal wages rose by 4.6% to 311,409 yen, the fastest growth rate since January 1997, and higher than the 3.9% increase in August. Basic wages in September increased by 3.7%, roughly in line with the 3.8% increase in August. An official from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare pointed out that the steady rise in basic wages this year is one of the reasons for the improvement in real wages. Overtime pay in September increased by 3.6%, lower than the revised 4.9% in August. Special payments, mainly consisting of one-time bonuses, surged by 32.6% in September, compared to an increase of 1.8% in August. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare stated that this surge reflects statistical anomalies rather than an increase in bonuses or other payments. The inflation rate used by the ministry to calculate the overall real wage index accelerated from 2.2% in August to 2.4% in September, but it is still lower than the 3.4% in the same period last year.