The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday that a record 27.65 billion yen in unpaid wages was reported in 2002.
It was the highest figure since data became available in 1983, and involved 72,361 workers in 23,356 cases, the ministry said.
In fiscal 2002, the government advanced 47.64 billion yen in unpaid wages to workers on behalf of bankrupt companies, up 86.4 percent from the previous year and also a record high, it said.
"For companies suffering from poor business, it is easiest to tap into the wages, but we would like them to protect the bread and butter of the workers," the ministry said.
It said the 23,356 new cases were reported to its Labor Standards Inspection Offices nationwide in 2002, up 8.8 percent from the previous year. The amount of unpaid wages was up 8.5 percent and involved 8.2 percent more workers. On average, each worker had 382,000 yen in unpaid wages.