The weighted average of wage hikes requested by 3,102 member unions of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, in this year's shuntō labor-management negotiations came to 5.85%, preliminary data showed Thursday.

It is the first time in 30 years for the average to exceed 5%, compared with past final survey results. The 3,102 unions all use a method of negotiating wage increase per worker.

Rengo President Tomoko Yoshino told a news conference Thursday that the requests by the unions reflected multiple factors, including inflation, personnel shortages and a recovery in corporate earnings.

The unions requested "considerably good levels" of wage increases, she said.

The average demanded wage increase, including pay-scale hikes and regular raises, stood at ¥17,606 as of Monday, up ¥4,268 from around the same time last year.

A total of 3,726 labor unions have already submitted their demands to management, accounting for 52.3% of the unions covered by the Rengo tally of shuntō requests.

The average of amounts demanded by unions with fewer than 300 members came to 5.97%, higher than the average of 5.84% among those with over 300 members.

"I guess this is a result of serious consideration" of the importance of investment in human resources, Yoshino said.

Rengo is calling for pay hike requests of at least 5%, including pay-scale hikes and regular raises in the 2024 shuntō.