The real wages of Japanese workers marked their biggest year-on-year fall in over eight years in November, as rising prices undercut spending power.

The labor ministry says that adjusted for inflation, real wages fell 3.8 percent from a year earlier. It was the eighth straight month of decline.

It was also the biggest drop since May 2014, when an increase in the consumption tax pulled real wages down by 4.1 percent.

The average monthly pay in November was 283,895 yen, or around 2,100 dollars. That's up 0.5 percent in yen terms from a year earlier. It was also the 11th straight month of year-on-year increase, although the pace has slowed.

Ministry officials say the small gains coupled with inflation mean real wages are actually declining.