2024 POLLS: Ruling, Opposition Parties Pledge Further Wage Increases

   Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)--Both Japanese ruling and opposition parties have promised continued wage increases to help counter soaring prices in their campaigning for an election on Sunday for the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of parliament.
   Japanese companies this spring agreed to raise wages by a weighted average of 5.1 pct, a 33-year high, in their annual "shunto" talks with labor unions, according to data from the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo.
   However, inflation-adjusted real wages remain weak. They grew for the first time in 27 months in June, but fell again in August.
   The ruling and opposition parties both believe that it is particularly important to help small and midsize companies raise wages to increase overall pay levels in the country.
   In this year's shunto talks, small and midsize labor unions with fewer than 300 members won a weighted-average wage increase of 4.45 pct, lower than the overall average.

(2024/10/22-17:16)