The number of households in financial stress that sought public assistance in Japan rose for the fourth straight year in 2023, as recent inflation piled pressure on people already hurting in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, welfare ministry data showed Wednesday.

New applications for welfare benefits increased 7.6 percent from the previous year to 255,079, the most since 2013 when comparable data became available, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.

The latest figure suggests some sections of society have failed to see wage rises in line with inflation despite government calls for companies to better support their workers.

Financial assistance is provided to households who cannot maintain a minimum standard of living, as defined by the ministry, despite utilizing their assets and deriving income from employment, social security benefits or support from relatives.

Applicants' earnings are assessed and the government then pays an amount that ensures the household income reaches a minimum figure that varies according to the number of people in the household and whether they live in an urban or rural area.

According to the ministry, applications are rising as those who saw their earnings fall due to the pandemic are dipping into their savings to cover higher food and utility costs at a time when government pandemic support has also been largely withdrawn.

"The impact of the coronavirus pandemic is lingering and the uptrend (in the number of applications) is expected to continue for a while. We will continue to carefully monitor developments," a ministry official said.

For December alone, new applications rose 5.6 percent from the previous year to 18,695, marking the 12th straight monthly increase, the data showed.

The number of households receiving the assistance rose 0.4 percent from a year before to 1,653,778 as of December, including 906,709 households with members aged 65 or older, which comprised 55.1 percent of the total and was flat from a year before.

The number of "other households" that include people who are able to work but are on welfare totaled 260,438, up 2.0 percent from a year earlier, while single-parent households fell 3.5 percent to 65,461, the data showed.