The Finance Ministry is calling on the education ministry to cut annual salaries for teachers at public elementary and junior high schools by ¥100,000 on average from fiscal 2014, sources revealed.
As the proposed cut is expected to help reduce the central government's costs by around ¥25 billion annually, the Finance Ministry has been eager to implement the measure to promote fiscal rehabilitation, the sources said Friday.
However, it is uncertain whether the cost cut will be realized given that the education ministry has strongly opposed the proposal, arguing it would make it difficult to secure high-quality educators, they added.
According to the Finance Ministry, the average monthly salary in fiscal 2012 for public school teachers at age 43 came to around ¥377,000, almost equivalent to that for local government officers of the same age engaged in general work.
But the annual average salary for teachers reached ¥6.08 million in the last fiscal year, which ended in March, higher than the ¥5.98 million that municipal administrative officers earned, as teachers' base salary, used to calculate bonuses, was larger, the ministry said.
The call for wage cuts comes amid Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government urging Japan Inc. to raise pay as part of his goal to end deflation and to mitigate a looming sales tax hike.