The average winter bonus at major companies rose 3.47 percent from last year to ¥806,007 on the back of the economic recovery, Keidanren said Thursday.
The nation's most influential business lobby said bonuses at automakers surged 11.81 percent to ¥898,838, posting the largest increase since 1980, when such data were first collated with the current method. Bonuses at machinery and metal manufacturers increased 7.22 percent, while those at cement companies grew 6.89 percent.
But the winter money dropped at food companies by 9.90 percent and at paper and pulp makers by 5.02 percent, according to the survey of 240 major companies.