Wage Hike Demands in 2026 “Shunto” Average 5.94 Pct

Tokyo, March 5 (Jiji Press)–The weighted average of wage hike demands by labor unions in this year’s “shunto” spring labor-management negotiations in Japan came to 5.94 pct as of Monday, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, said Thursday. Large hikes were requested by many small firms aiming to narrow the pay gap with major companies. The average exceeded Rengo’s target of 5 pct or more although it was lower than last year’s average rate of 6.09 pct, which was the sharpest in 32 years. The wage demand survey by Rengo for the 2026 shunto covered 2,508 member labor unions that adopt a system to negotiate wages per employee. The average request for pay scale and regular hikes stood at 19,506 yen, up 262 yen from the previous year. Wage hike requests by labor unions with less than 300 member workers averaged 6.64 pct, surpassing the previous year’s 6.57 pct and Rengo’s target of 6 pct or more set for unions at small companies in the 2026 shunto. For nonregular workers, the average came to 7.60 pct, higher than the target of 7 pct set by Rengo. Rengo President Tomoko Yoshino welcomed the survey results at a press conference held in Tokyo on Thursday. Some major companies, including Mazda Motor Corp., have already presented their wage plans to the labor side, fully meeting the pay hike requests from their unions. “It’s good that some companies with rosy earnings have given their responses early,” Yoshino said, suggesting that she hopes favorable results will come from more firms. In the 2026 shunto, many large companies are slated to respond to their unions’ pay increase requests March 18. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]