minimum wage

Companies need to consider rising minimum wages not as a threat to their bottom lines but as an opportunity to secure the manpower they need and improve their productivity by making necessary investments.

The government unveils a draft package of measures aimed at revitalizing the economy, including raising minimum wages, supporting the “employment ice age generation” and promoting online administrative procedures.

The Abe administration is on the right track in trying to raise the minimum wage — not only would it be of benefit to the working poor, but consumer spending would also grow.

Raising the minimum wage in each prefecture will help achieve broad-based pay increases, but could also cause difficulties for small and medium-size businesses.

The ¥16 hike in Japan's average minimum hourly wage to ¥780, which an advisory panel has recommended to the labor minister, fails to offset the rising costs of living and hardly strengthens the safety net for the growing ranks of irregular workers.

A revision to the tax system in October will add ¥15 to the average minimum wage, which will climb to ¥764 an hour, the labor ministry says. It is the largest year-on-year rise since ¥17 in fiscal 2010. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has urged companies to ...

labor ministry advisory council recommends a 2 percent uptick in the minimum hourly wage to ¥763. But consumer price increases could offset the wage rise.