Japan's real wages rose 1.5 percent in August from a year earlier. Government data released on 7 October confirmed the figure.

It was the eighth consecutive monthly increase. The trend points to a continued recovery in wage growth.

The growth was slower than July's revised 2 percent gain.

The inflation measure used in the calculation was unchanged from July at 2.2 percent.

Nominal wages, or total cash earnings, rose 3.8 percent to 311,364 yen. That was slower than the revised 4.3 percent increase in July.

Workers' base salaries rose 3.8 percent, unchanged from July. Overtime pay growth picked up to 5.2 percent from 4.5 percent.

Special payments, mostly one-time bonuses, showed no growth. They had risen a revised 5.3 percent in July.

The strong data supports the case for the Bank of Japan to keep raising interest rates. The bank hiked its benchmark rate last month.

Nominal wage growth has stayed above 3 percent for seven straight months. That is the longest such run since 1992.