Wages rise in large Japanese companies, the biggest rise in 31 years

Large Japanese companies increased wages by an average of 3.91%, the highest rate in 31 years, the Japanese employers Keidanren reported today.

The increase was announced after the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, has made several calls to increase wages so that the Japanese can face the rise in inflation that, although it is much lower than in other economies, is bordering on 4%, its highest level for four decades.

The average salary increase approved this year was equivalent to 13,110 yen (about US$95) per month worked, 5,680 yen more than the previous year, according to preliminary data released today by keidanren.

The increase was higher than the 2.27% of the previous year and the most pronounced since 1992, the year in which the average salary grew by 4.78%.

The pressure from the Government and unions in wage negotiations already suggested that large companies would implement increases not seen since the 1990s in the archipelago, but the data published today is well above some forecasts that estimated an average increase of around 2.85%

The data released today marks a change in trend from the long period of wage stagnation that has plagued Japan since the late 1990s, a scenario that the government and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) have tried to change with successive policies of stimuli.

Source: EFE