By Kantaro Komiya and Kaori Kaneko

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s wages rose in April as major companies lifted pay at the fastest pace in three decades following increased worker demands for salaries to keep up with inflation, government data showed on Tuesday.

The April wage data provides an early glimpse of the effects of the spring labour negotiations, or “shunto”, and comes as Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda says an end to easy policy would depend on the economy achieving sustainable 2% inflation along with wage hikes.

Total cash earnings, or nominal wages, grew 1.0% in April from a year earlier, the labour ministry data showed. The growth was smaller than a revised 1.3% rise logged in March, suggesting it would take more time for the shunto gains to fully appear in official statistics.

Inflation-adjusted real wages fell 3.0%, marking the 13th straight month of year-on-year declines, as nominal pay growth lags relentless consumer inflation.

Separate data showed Japanese household spending fell 4.4% in April from a year earlier, more than the median market forecast for a 2.3% fall. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, household spending decreased 1.3%, against an estimated 0.6% gain.