An increasing number of major companies in Japan are reaching early deals with their labor unions on large pay hikes in this year's spring wage negotiations.
These firms include not only automakers and other manufacturers but also restaurant and other service operators and retailers, reflecting a recovery in earnings from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a sense of crisis over labor shortages.
Zensho Holdings, the operator of Sukiya beef-on-rice and other restaurant chains, will raise salaries of regular employees by 12.2% on average, in a bid to secure highly skilled workers for overseas expansion.