Japan's biggest labor organization on Thursday decided to call for a 4% pay hike in annual wage negotiations set for early next year to help fairly redistribute wealth, a goal also sought by the country's prime minister.
Tepid wage growth has been partly blamed for weak domestic demand and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is calling for a pay hike of over 3% next year at companies that are seeing their earnings recover to pre-pandemic levels as he aims to deliver on his promise of achieving economic growth and improving wealth distribution.
Members of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, also known as Rengo, reached an agreement at their meeting in Chiba Prefecture to demand a pay-scale increase of around 2% and an annual pay rise of 2% during upcoming shunto negotiations.