Tag - wages

 
 

WAGES

Eleven of 21 sectors surveyed saw increases in winter bonus payments at major Japanese firms.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 13, 2024
Winter bonuses at major Japan firms see modest rise
The average increased for the second year in a row, though at a slower pace than the 7.77% growth marked in winter 2022.
Japanese workers' real wages kept shrinking for a 20th month in November, raising fresh alarm for the sustainability of the country's economic recovery as firms enter the period of annual pay negotiations with labor unions.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2024
Japan’s slower wage growth adds to reasons for BOJ to hold
Nominal cash earnings for workers rose 0.2% from the previous year, decelerating sharply from a 1.5% increase in October, the labor ministry said.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a New Year’s event hosted by Rengo, the nation’s biggest trade union federation, in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 6, 2024
Kishida and Rengo chief amplify push for strong wage growth
Wage gains feeding into demand-led price gains are a condition for any move to normalize monetary policy.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi took office on Dec. 14 after his predecessor quit over a political funds scandal.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 27, 2023
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi vows to tackle distrust
Hayashi, who took office after his predecessor quit over a funding scandal, says revising the relevant law is related to freedom of political activity.
An electronic board displays various companies' share prices at a business district in Tokyo in October.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2023
Japan’s labor demand holds steady in positive sign for wages
The job-to-applicants ratio eased a tad to 1.28, meaning there were 128 jobs offered for every 100 applicants, the labor ministry reported.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda told lawmakers in parliament that his job was about to get even more "challenging” from the end of the year, adding to speculation of looming action by the central bank.
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2023
BOJ set to stay outlier as 2024 hike seen in contrast to Fed
The Bank of Japan has become used to being a policy outlier over its decades-long quest to vanquish deflation. It’s likely to be no different in 2024.
Trucks line up in a queue to cross the Polish-Ukrainian border at the Dorohusk-Jagodzin crossing, in Brzezno, Poland, on Dec. 4.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2023
Front-line troops in Ukraine feel bite of Polish truckers’ protest
A monthslong border blockade by Polish truckers is starting to have an effect on Ukrainian soldiers.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Half of the 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg said the central bank will scrap its negative rate in April, up from 29% in the October survey.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2023
Most BOJ watchers predict end of negative rate regime by April
"The most beautiful scenario is the end of the negative rate in April”
Deputy Gov. Ryozo Himino's comments are the clearest sign so far from the BOJ’s leadership that authorities are considering what the impact would be if they ended negative rates.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 6, 2023
BOJ’s deputy chief hints that end of negative rate may be closer
Ryozo Himino has set out a hypothesis for what might happen if rates do indeed go positive.
University students attend a job fair. If Japanese companies continue hiring people based on the university they graduated from, acquiring extra qualifications or reskilling won't impact candidates' job prospects.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 29, 2023
Kishida’s stimulus package needs rethinking, not reskilling
The government aims to promote reskilling for nonregular workers to boost their job prospects, but this won't matter if hiring practices don't change.
Monthly regular pay rose 3.2%, or ¥9,437, on average this year, both record highs since comparative figures began in 1999.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2023
Japanese firms giving record pay raises this year, poll shows
Policymakers have said hiking wages is essential to ending deflation and to achieving and sustaining an inflation rate of 2% in a stable manner.
Members of a freelancers group opposing Japan's new invoice system hand documents requesting its abolition to Finance Ministry officials in Tokyo on Nov. 13.
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2023
Manga artists and taxi drivers hit as tax frustrations mount
About 4.6 million businesses that were previously exempt from paying sales tax have been impacted by a new invoice system.
Commuters at Tokyo Station earlier this month. A Reuters poll showed six out of 10 economists expect major firms' pay hikes in 2024 to exceed this year's.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Nov 20, 2023
Japan's back-to-back wage bonanza would open door for BOJ exit
The news comes as the government pushes companies to hike pay to help offset rising living costs.
Tomoko Yoshino, president of Rengo, attends a meeting in 2022.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2023
Japan's largest labor union to seek worker pay hikes beyond 2024
Rengo said last month it will demand wage hikes totaling 5% or more next year.
Ministers gather for a Cabinet meeting on Friday at Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 17, 2023
Japan enacts bill to raise annual pay of PM and ministers
The prime minister's annual salary will be raised by ¥460,000 to ¥40.61 million.
Japan Airlines is planning to pay a winter bonus equivalent to three months' salary in this fiscal year, up from the 1.7 months' salary for the fiscal 2022 winter bonus.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 15, 2023
JAL to pay highest winter bonus since 2012 relisting
The planned bonus is up sharply from the 1.7 months' salary for the fiscal 2022 winter bonus.
An assembly line at Honda Motor's  Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio, in November 2016
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 11, 2023
Honda will give autoworkers 11% raise after UAW’s big wins
While nonunion automakers race to boost pay and keep the union out of its gates, the UAW is trying to organize foreign-owned factories in the U.S.
A bill that would raise the pay for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Cabinet ministers and some civil servants was passed by the  Lower House Cabinet Committee on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 10, 2023
Bill that would hike Kishida and Cabinet's pay clears Lower House committee
The plan has been met with fierce backlash from opposition parties, with lawmakers lambasting the government for its “poor political judgment.”
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks at a news conference following the central bank's policy meeting on Oct. 31.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 9, 2023
BOJ debated groundwork for future easy-policy exit at meeting
The October discussions highlight how the central bank is looking to exit its decade-long accommodative regime.
Japan's real wages dropped 2.4% in September from a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 7, 2023
Japan's wages and spending extend declines in test for BOJ policy
Japan's real wages dropped 2.4% in September from a year earlier.

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