Japan's largest labour union group Rengo said on Thursday its member unions are seeking an average wage hike of 6.09% for this year, outpacing last year's demand, which resulted in the highest wage increase in three decades.
The demand could mean another year of sizeable wage increases in Japan's annual labour-management talks, which Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba sees as key to the world's fourth-largest economy.
A broad-based pay rise is also a prerequisite for the Bank of Japan to continue monetary policy normalisation after the central bank raised interest rates to the highest level since 2008 in January.
The average demand surpasses Rengo's wage growth target of least 5% in 2025, including a rise in the base pay of at least 3%. Base pay rises exclude the seniority-based automatic annual increase already built into the pay scale.
Last year, Japanese companies agreed to an average 5.1% wage hike, the biggest increase in 33 years, following a 3.5% rise the previous year, according to Rengo. Its member unions had sought an average 5.85% increase around this time last year.
The union group has about 7 million members.
Talks between management and labour unions over the 2025 wage levels typically conclude around mid-March at major firms, and go into effect a few months later.
