The National Personnel Authority on Aug. 8 recommended that the wage levels — monthly wages and bonuses — of national public servants for fiscal 2012 should remain as they are. The authority will need to fully explain why it reached this conclusion, since its attitude this year toward the wage levels appears to be different from last year.
Apart from the wage levels for fiscal 2012, the government and the Diet need to have thorough discussions on a reasonable system to determine the wage levels and other working conditions of national public servants.
The Democratic Party of Japan government already cut the wage levels by an average 7.8 percent from April, the start of fiscal 2012, under an extraordinary law. The wage cut is for fiscal 2012 and 2013 ostensibly to raise funds for the reconstruction of areas devastated by the 3/11 disasters.