Takaichi Vows to Back Up Pay Hikes at Small Firms

Tokyo, March 23 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stressed Monday that her government will make utmost efforts to help small companies raise wages. “It is important to spread the pay hike momentum from large companies to smaller businesses in regional areas,” she said of this year’s “shunto” spring wage negotiations at a meeting held among government, labor and management representatives at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo. “We will do everything we can to prepare an environment” that allows small companies to increase wages, Takaichi added. In the 2026 shunto, a number of large companies offered their wage proposals on Wednesday last week, with many of them, including automakers and electronics makers, fully accepting pay hike demands from the labor side. Referring to this, Takaichi said that the government has taken measures to encourage companies to raise wages, such as the compilation of economic packages and supplementary budgets, rather than urging businesses alone to make efforts, and that these initiatives have “paid off.” Participants of the meeting included Tomoko Yoshino, president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), the umbrella organization for labor unions in Japan, Yoshinobu Tsutsui, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), the country’s biggest group of employers, and Ken Kobayashi, head of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. From the government, cabinet ministers concerned attended the meeting, stressing the policy of supporting pay hikes at small companies by helping them pass on costs to the prices of their products, improve their productivity and spur their business growth. Still, companies, mainly small businesses, are increasingly concerned that rising Middle East tensions amid the prolonged conflict between U.S.-Israeli forces and Iran will pressure their earnings. Takaichi said that the government is ready to work hard to thoroughly address such concerns while keeping a close watch on the economic impact of the deteriorating situation in the region. In talks with reporters after the meeting, Yoshino said that she wants the government to take measures to ensure that the Middle East tensions will not adversely affect Japanese companies’ moves to increase wages. Tsutsui said that he requested the government to support small companies’ moves to reflect higher costs in the prices of their products. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]