Japan Panel Proposes 26-Yen Hike in Average Minimum Wage

July 26, 2018

Tokyo- A Japanese labor ministry panel recommended Thursday that the country's average minimum hourly wage for fiscal 2018 be raised by 26 yen from the previous year, the largest hike since comparable figures became available in fiscal 2002.

The Central Minimum Wages Council submitted the proposal to Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Katsunobu Kato.

If the proposal is fully implemented, the national average minimum wage for the year to March 2019 would rise to 874 yen. The rate of increase would come to 3.07 pct, topping the target of 3 pct set by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for the third straight year.

The highest minimum wage would be 985 yen, for Tokyo, and the lowest minimum wage 760 yen, for eight prefectures--Kochi, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima and Okinawa.

In the recommendation, the council called on the government to provide small companies, which will be hit particularly hard by the wage hike, with support for boosting their productivity.

The government was also asked to pay consideration to the terms of contracts when it places orders to private-sector companies, so as to make it easier for them to raise wages.

Based on the recommendation, wage-related panels of the country's 47 prefectures will decide their respective minimum pay levels, which will be applied from around Oct. 1. Jiji Press