More than 80% of employers in Japan plan salary raises in 2024

More organisations in Japan have plans to raise wages in 2024, with a majority of them planning a wage increase on par with that of 2023.

This was one of the findings from a survey conducted by Tokyo Shōkō Research, which surveyed 4,581 organisations in Japan between December 1 and 11 last year and found more than four out of five organisations (82.9%, or 3,799 of the respondents) plan to raise wages in 2024. The majority, at 51.5%, plan to implement a wage increase on par with that of 2023, while 19.7% intend to implement a smaller wage increase and 11.6% a larger one. Meanwhile, 17% of respondents said that there are currently no plans to raise wages for employees this year.

Within organisations that intend to raise wages higher in 2024, 14.1% were large firms and 11.3% were small to medium-sized enterprises. Meanwhile, 17.9% of firm with no prospect of raising wages were small or medium-sized enterprises, nearly twice the number of large firm (9.2%). Tokyo Shōkō Research commented that “many small and medium-sized enterprises have been unable to shake free of slumping business performance, making it difficult to raise wages.”

When cross-analysed between sectors, the real-estate sector had the highest percentage of firm intending to raise wages higher than in 2023, at 17.5% (or 19 of the 108 organisations within). This is followed by the information and telecommunications industry at 15.6% and the service industry at 13.1%.

READ MORE: Japan pushes for faster wage growth in 2024

The finance and insurance sector, on the other hand, had the highest percentage of firms whose wage increases would likely be less than any wage increase in 2023, at 42.4%, reported Nippon.com.