TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's real wages fell 0.3 percent in November from a year earlier, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline, as pay growth failed to keep pace with rising prices, government data showed Thursday.

Nominal wages, or the average total monthly cash earnings per worker including base and overtime pay, increased 3.0 percent to 305,832 yen ($1,900), rising for the 35th straight month, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

But consumer prices, used to calculate wage data, grew 3.4 percent in November, accelerating from a 2.6 percent increase in the previous month.

The ministry attributed the surge in prices to reduced government subsidies for utility bills and persistently higher food prices.

At workplaces with five or more employees, inflation-adjusted wages, a barometer of consumer purchasing power, dropped for the 26th straight month through May but turned positive in the following two months.

They started sliding again from August, despite government measures to address high inflation and calls on companies to raise salaries.

Meanwhile, real wages at workplaces with 30 people or more inched up 0.2 percent in November, rising for the third consecutive month.

Excluding bonuses and nonscheduled payments, average wages rose 2.7 percent to 265,082 yen, the sharpest rise in 32 years, the data showed.

Special cash earnings, primarily bonuses, jumped 7.9 percent from a year ago to 20,091 yen as some employers started paying bonuses in the reporting month.

"While the effect of winter bonuses will likely be fully reflected in December, whether real wages will turn positive depends on price developments," a ministry official said.

By employment contract type, average monthly nominal wages climbed 3.0 percent to 392,121 yen for full-time workers and 4.4 percent to 112,109 yen for part-timers.