Employers and employees will eventually agree on wage cuts in the form of work-sharing as they undergo the much expected pains of ongoing structural reforms initiated by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the chief of Japan Federation of Employers Association (Nikkeiren) said.
"The Japanese people have been giving their support to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ever since he took office, knowing that his reform initiatives will come with pains," Nikkeiren Chairman Hiroshi Okuda said during a recent interview with Kyodo News.
Japan's unemployment rate hit a record 5.5 percent in November, but he said that a sharp rise in the unemployment rate is unlikely because companies will try work-sharing in the future to stabilize employment.