Major Japanese Companies OK 5.37 Pct Pay Increase on Average

Tokyo, Aug. 5 (Jiji Press)–Major Japanese companies agreed to raise monthly wages by an average of 5.37 pct through pay scale hikes and regular raises in the 2026 “shunto” spring labor-management wage negotiations, the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, has said. According to Keidanren’s final tally released Tuesday, the average amount of increase was 19,752 yen, largest since the start of comparable data in 1976. It also marked the third consecutive year of increase exceeding 5 pct. “We were able to confirm that strong wage hikes have taken root,” a Keidanren official said. The average stood at 5.36 pct, or 19,634 yen, at manufacturers and 5.38 pct, or 20,016 yen, at nonmanufacturers. The tally covered shunto results at 146 companies in 20 industries for which sufficient data were available, based on a survey of businesses with 500 or more employees in principle that researched 248 entities in 23 industries. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]