Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Tuesday that he will ask companies to implement significant wage hikes at next year's labour negotiations, as his government puts pay rises at the top of its public policy priorities.
Ishiba, whose fragile coalition government is under pressure to increase spending on welfare and offset rising prices, vowed to push for wage growth at the annual "shunto" negotiations next spring after Japanese companies delivered their biggest pay hike in 33 years early this year.
"We request that businesses cooperate to achieve large wage growth in next year's negotiations," Ishiba said at the end of a three-party meeting between the government, businesses and union leaders.
Japan's largest labour union group is seeking wage hikes of at least 5% in 2025, similar to this year's hefty increase. Economists doubt another such bump is realistic.
Ishiba also pledged to lay out specific measures by next spring to achieve his policy goal of raising the average minimum wage by 42% by the end of the decade.
The government plans to continue discussions with business and labour leaders on the minimum wage target and hopes to create an environment where such a raise is possible, Ishiba said.
A three-way framework of government, businesses and union leaders to discuss wages was set up shortly after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe swept to power in late 2012, promising to reflate the economy.
Government intervention in labour and management talks was initially seen as unusual, if not taboo, in Japan but companies eventually warmed to the idea of pay hikes to lure talent.
($1 = 153.6500 yen)
