Ishiba Vows to Work on Wage Growth as Top Priority

Tokyo, Oct. 30 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Wednesday that his administration will work on wage growth as a top priority.

"There were strong calls for wage increases in this general election," Ishiba pointed out at a meeting of the government's Council of New Form of Capitalism Realization on the day.

At the meeting, the government indicated that it will hold talks among government, labor and management representatives to discuss a goal of raising the country's average minimum wage to 1,500 yen by the end of the 2020s.

But Masakazu Tokura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, said after the meeting that some people would end up on the streets and business operators would struggle if "something too rough" is done. "It is important for the government, labor and management to discuss well and set a challenging target," Tokura added.

The target of raising the average minimum wage to 1,500 yen during this decade "seems too fast from our perspective," said Ken Kobayashi, head of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]