The average starting salary for male and female university graduates rose 1.5 percent in 2003 from a year before to 198,100 yen, the biggest increase on record, the labor ministry said Friday.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said in a report on wages that the increase was the biggest since 1996, when the government began compiling relevant statistics.
Ministry officials attributed the increase primarily to higher initial pay offers by companies seeking pharmacists as a result of deregulated retail sales of drugs and those with upbeat earnings performances.
Since the government softened curbs on the scope of business sectors allowed to sell drugs, the number of employment offers for university graduates who passed the national exam for pharmacists has soared.