Tag - wages

 
 

WAGES

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at the meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy on Thursday at the Prime Minister's Office.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2024
Japan wage growth projected to outpace inflation in fiscal 2025
In fiscal 2025, nominal wages are projected to increase 2.8% from the previous year, while the overall consumer price index is forecast to rise 2.0%.
The government will raise adjustment allowances for public school teachers, paid instead of overtime, for the first time since the special measures law on salaries of public school teachers came into force in 1972.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2024
Japan decides on 10% boost to teacher allowances
The hike, expected to start in January 2026, would be the first since the law came into force in 1972.
"In order to secure quality talent, we have to raise wages above inflation," Daiwa Securities CEO Akihiko Ogino has said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 24, 2024
Daiwa aims to raise wages at least 5% next year amid competition for talent
Daiwa is discussing a pay raise of at least 5% for the financial year beginning in April 2025, after hikes of 5%, 4% and 7% in the three years prior.
Small businesses in Ino, a town in Kochi Prefecture known for its paper industry, show how a labor shortage is a growing threat to smaller companies that provide seven out of every 10 jobs in Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 24, 2024
Small businesses with low wages struggle to tackle labor shortages
A worker shortage is threatening firms that are otherwise robust, including those that have invested in automation and creative hiring.
Lawyers estimate that personal bankruptcies in Japan are on track to reach the highest since 2012 this year.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Dec 22, 2024
Bankruptcies and suicides rise as Japanese struggle with mounting debt
Personal debt is overwhelming an increasing number of Japanese as higher interest rates and the rising cost of living bite.
Self-Defense Force members march in formation at Camp Asaka, which straddles Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture, during a ceremony on Nov. 9.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 21, 2024
Japan ready to improve working conditions for SDF members
Improving working conditions for the members "is a serious challenge" for his administration, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told a meeting of relevant Cabinet ministers.
Nomura Holdings and other major brokerages in Japan are raising compensation and benefits for senior employees age 60 or over.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2024
At Japan's brokerages, skills shortage improves conditions for older staff
Employees age 60 and above are increasingly getting paid for performance and given heavier responsibilities in line with their experience.
Commuters in Tokyo in March 2023.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 13, 2024
Ruling bloc proposes ¥1.23 million minimum threshold for taxable income
Tax chiefs from the LDP, Komeito and DPP plan to meet again as early as Tuesday after the DPP, which seeks to raise the threshold to ¥1.78 million, opposed the proposal.
Nobuhiro Ito, who runs casting-maker Ito Tekko, which employs about 100 people, in front of his company's factory in the city of Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 13, 2024
BOJ's rate hike plans clouded by small firms' wage woes
Next year's wage prospects are crucial for sustaining a consumption-led recovery — a prerequisite for further rate hikes by the Bank of Japan.
Tokyo has the highest price-to-income ratio for high-rise condominiums in the country, at 17.78 times.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 12, 2024
New Japanese condos now cost 10 times average salary, study shows
Wages are not keeping up with rising costs, resulting in developers focusing on the higher end of the market.
Akihiro Kaneko, president of the Japan Council of Metalworkers’ Unions, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Dec. 3.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2024
Japan union head calls for government to work more on raising pay
The call comes as Japan prepares for annual wage negotiations that culminate in the spring.
The bill to revise the law on remunerations for government workers calls for setting annual bonuses at an equivalent of 4.6 months' salary.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2024
Government workers' winter bonuses fall with hike bill pending
Prime Minister Ishiba's total winter bonuses were lower than usual due to his recent appointment and a voluntary return on his part of 30% to fiscal reforms.
The government's pension reform plan under consideration will make it easier for part-timers to join the kosei nenkin employee pension program.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 8, 2024
Japan to scrap ¥1.06 million employee pension threshold in 2026
The government also plans to abolish a requirement that companies must have at least 51 employees for employees to join the kosei nenkin program.
Japan's base salaries grew at a 32-year-high pace in October, offering statistical support for the prospects of a central bank rate hike this month.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 6, 2024
Record base pay gains keep door open for BOJ hike
Base pay for full-time workers increased by 2.8% in October from a year ago, the biggest gain for comparable data back to 1994.
Members of the workers' union UA Zensen watch a video, during a kick-off rally for the annual "shunto" wage negotiations, in Tokyo in March 2023.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2024
UA Zensen unveils plan to demand 6% pay hike in 2025 Shunto
UA Zensen plans to seek a 7% wage increase for part-time workers, who make up about 60% of the roughly 1.9 million workers in its member unions.
Major electronics firms plan to pay new graduate hires starting salaries that vary depending on skills and experiences.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2024
Japanese electronics firms rethink uniform starting salaries
Panasonic Connect plans to pay an additional 10% to 20% on top of this year's starting salaries to spring 2025 recruits with past startup experiences or tech skills.
An official from the Japan Council of Metalworkers' Unions writes on a board the results of this year's shuntō annual spring labor negotiations in March in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 3, 2024
JCM to demand pay-scale hike of ¥12,000 or more in 2025
The organization is aiming to ensure wage increases exceed the rate of inflation.
Rengo President Tomoko Yoshino speaks at the organization's central committee meeting in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 28, 2024
Rengo to demand wage hike of 6% or more for smaller firms in 2025
Rengo set a higher goal for small and midsize businesses to rectify wage gaps with larger companies.
"I asked for cooperation in next year’s wage negotiations for a substantial wage increase, building on this year’s momentum,” Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said.
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2024
Ishiba renews pressure on companies to ramp up pay
Average wage deals this year hit a 33-year-high as firms responded to demands to raise pay amid ongoing inflation.
The services producer price index rose 2.9% in October from a year earlier, the Bank of Japan data shows, accelerating from a 2.8% gain in September.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 26, 2024
Japan's steady corporate service inflation bolsters BOJ rate-hike view
The Bank of Japan is watching service-sector inflation for clues on whether demand-driven price gains are broadening enough to justify further raising interest rates.

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Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
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