Rengo, Japan's largest trade union confederation, urged companies on Friday to raise wages further to outpace inflation and help workers deal with rising living costs.
The lobby group made the demand as it reviewed the results of its annual spring wage talks that concluded earlier this month, which saw major companies agree to average pay hikes of 3.58% this year, the highest in 30 years.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the Bank of Japan are hoping wage hikes can be sustained to generate more consumer spending that will decisively lift the world's third-largest economy from decades of stagnation.