Japan Workers Offered Biggest Pay Hike in 34 Yrs

Tokyo, March 14 (Jiji Press)--Pay hikes Japanese companies have offered so far in the "shunto" spring bargaining with labor unions averaged 5.46 pct, the biggest increase in 34 years, the first tally of management responses by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, showed Friday.

The weighted average of regular and pay scale hikes combined exceeded the 2023 shunto level by 0.18 percentage point on a first tally basis and came next to the final 5.66 pct outcome from the 1991 labor-management talks.

Amid inflation and labor shortages, many large companies have already responded fully to their unions' demands. A focal point for now is whether the strong wage hike momentum will spread to smaller firms, observers said.

The initial Rengo data also showed small unions with fewer than 300 members have won pay hike offers averaging 5.09 pct, topping the 5 pct threshold for the first time in 33 years.

"We got off to a good start," Tomoko Yoshino, head of the umbrella organization of labor unions in the country, told a press conference Friday.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]