The wages that workers in Japan brought home in August rose but the gains were not enough to catch up with inflation.

The labor ministry says the average wage for the month, including base and overtime pay, was 279,388 yen, or about 1,925 dollars.

That's up 1.7 percent from a year earlier in yen terms, marking the eighth consecutive month of increase.

Overtime and other forms of extra pay grew 4.3 percent.

Despite the gains, the average real wage in August dropped 1.7 percent from a year earlier, marking the fifth straight month of decline.

Officials say wages have been increasing this year due to a recovery from the pandemic and growth in economic activities. But they say real wages continue to slide because of inflation.