TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's real wages were unchanged in October compared with a year earlier after declining over the previous two months, as the impact of rising prices eased due partly to government subsidies for utility bills, government data showed Friday.

Nominal wages, the average total monthly cash earnings per worker including base and overtime pay, increased 2.6 percent to 293,401 yen ($1,950), rising for the 34th straight month, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.

Excluding bonuses and nonscheduled payments, average wages climbed 2.7 percent to 265,537 yen, the biggest rise in nearly 32 years. Full-time workers' average wages grew 2.8 percent to 336,070 yen, marking the sharpest increase since comparable data became available in 1994.

In separate data, the country's household spending in October dropped a real, or inflation-adjusted, 1.3 percent from a year before.

Average spending by households of two or more people stood at 305,819 yen, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.

Household spending is a key indicator of consumer spending, which accounts for more than half of Japan's gross domestic product.