Japan’s top business lobby urges firms to raise wages

Japan’s top business lobby, Keidanren, has urged member companies to raise workers’ wages next spring to offset rising prices, reported Nikkei.

Keidanren has called on its members, which include Japan’s biggest companies, to consider price trends and “take forward-looking action that maintains and strengthens the momentum of wage increases”, according to a draft seen by the publication. 

It identified young employees, workers with children, and non-permanent employees as those who are most vulnerable to inflation. The draft also highlighted alternatives businesses could take besides raising monthly pay, which include providing cost-of-living allowances and special bonuses.

Keidanren is set to unveil draft recommendations on November 7 that will guide firms in its wage negotiations next spring. Final guidelines will then be issued in January. The nation’s leading labour group, Rengo, otherwise known as the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, will seek a pay rise of about 5%, its largest demand in 28 years. 

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The government has also pushed businesses to raise wages by 3%. “Pay raises that keep pace with inflation should be the highest priority,” said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in an address to reporters last week.