JAPANESE firms have agreed to raise pay by 5.25 per cent this year, the biggest rise under comparable data since 2013, the country’s largest union group Rengo confirmed on Friday (Mar 22).

The results of the closely-watched wage negotiations are announced in several stages, in which the blue-chip firms are first to wrap up their talks in mid-March.

The second announcement on the outcome of annual labour talks on Friday was little changed from a preliminary figure of 5.28 per cent a week ago, indicating the strength of wage growth. The agreed hike of 5.25 per cent corresponds to an average rise of 16,379 yen a month.

As a number of companies, small firms in particular, reach agreements on pay towards April-to-June, the average growth of pay hikes tend to become smaller than the initial round as more announcement becomes available.

Further results are scheduled to be released on Apr 4 and Apr 18, when more small firms come up with their results.

“We will examine how broad the trend of wage hikes is spreading at a meeting on Apr 4,” Akira Nidaira, a senior Rengo official told a news conference.

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Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said the government is counting on wage hikes to trickle down to smaller and medium-sized firms, which account for 99.7 per cent of all enterprises and about 70 per cent of Japan’s workforce, but many lack the pricing power to pass higher costs to customers. REUTERS