The employment cost index – a broad measure of wage and benefit costs in private industry – rose only 1.2 percent in the 12 months to December after hovering around 3 to 4 percent for most of the preceding two decades.
Toshihiko Fukui: Overall review of the Bank of Japan’s conduct of monetary policy Statement by Mr Toshihiko Fukui, Governor of the Bank of Japan, concerning the Bank's Semiannual Report on Currency and Monetary Control, before the Committee on Financial Affairs, House of Representatives, Tokyo, 11 January 2008.