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July 27, 2024
 

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WAGES

A truck transporting a container parked outside a shipping terminal in Yokohama.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2024
Japan approves bill to improve labor conditions for truck drivers
The revisions intend to tackle a labor shortage in the logistics industry, known as the "2024 problem."
A slew of listed Japanese firms have logged solid earnings for the nine months ended in December including Toyota, which posted operating and net profits that reached the highest levels on record for a Japanese company.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 11, 2024
Major Japanese firms post higher earnings in April-December period
Of 786 component firms of the broad Topix index that had announced their April-December results as of Wednesday, 455 companies reported higher net profits.
Japanese companies are paying higher starting salaries as they struggle to secure young workers.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 9, 2024
Japanese firms boosting pay for young workers is good news for Bank of Japan
If wage gain momentum carries over into this year, the BOJ is expected to end the world’s last negative interest rate regime by April.
Japan’s shortage of software engineers in particular has caused the country to lag behind in its digital transformation.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 6, 2024
Tech firms in Japan are scouring for talent amid labor shortage
Three-quarters of technology hiring managers in Japan found recruitment to be "very” or "quite” competitive last year.
Nominal cash earnings among workers in Japan rose 1.0% in December from the previous year, government data shows.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 6, 2024
Japan’s wage data likely solid enough to keep BOJ policy shift on track
Nominal cash earnings rose 1.0% in December from the previous year with the help of a 0.5% gain in winter bonuses.
Akihiko Matsuura, head of UA Zensen, has called for a standard 6% increase in total wages.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 2, 2024
Major union UA Zensen calls for 6% pay raise to support BOJ policy shift
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is also pushing for wage gains after hikes last year failed to keep up with inflation, putting a burden on household budgets.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki gives a policy speech on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 30, 2024
Japan's finance chief calls for early budget passage following quake
Japan is "at a historic turning point" in achieving sustainable growth, Shunichi Suzuki told parliament.
Workers assemble vehicles at Toyota's Tsutsumi plant in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 30, 2024
Toyota union eyes extra month's bonus in annual negotiations
Wage increases by Toyota and other carmakers will be seen as a bellwether for the rest of Japan's manufacturing sector and economy.
The unemployment rate fell to 2.4% in December, government data shows.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 30, 2024
Japan job market remains tight, keeping hopes for wage hikes
The Bank of Japan is watching the labor market closely as it seeks evidence of a virtuous cycle linking rising wages with demand-led price gains.
Rengo chief Tomoko Yoshino speaks at a forum in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 29, 2024
Pay hikes at small firms in focus at Japan’s spring wage negotiations
The decisions of such companies will play a big role in determining whether Japan can achieve a healthy wage-price cycle.
Toyota's main Tokyo office on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 26, 2024
Toyota union to demand record 2024 bonuses: report
With Toyota saying it expects to post record consolidated operating profits this financial year, the union is also likely to demand high pay hikes.
Leaders of Keidanren and labor unions officially started annual spring wage negotiations on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2024
Japanese firms and unions kick off wage talks as markets bet on bigger pay hikes
Japan's big firms are expected to offer their unions wage hikes of 3.85% on average this year, the highest wage increase in 31 years.
Kishida speaks at a meeting with leaders of Japanese Trade Union Confederation and Japan Business Federation on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2024
With meetings, Japan leader amplifies call for wage hikes at small firms
Dissatisfaction over falling real wages has been one of the factors undermining the prime minister's support rate, which remained under 30% in a series of recent polls.
At stake in this year's spring negotiations between trade unions and large Japanese firms, analysts say, is whether wages will rise far enough to ignite the sustainable inflation that policymakers consider a prerequisite for ending negative interest rates.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2024
Japan's top business lobby calls for worker pay raises above inflation
The call sets the tone for annual wage talks that may pave the way for the Bank of Japan to exit its ultraeasy monetary policy.
Stronger annual wage negotiation results are likely to pave the way for the Bank of Japan to end its negative interest rate by this spring, a former BOJ official says.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2024
Wage gains of 4% would pave way for BOJ rate hike, ex-official says
Market participants are monitoring annual wage talks closely as they may be a decisive factor in prompting Japan's central bank to end the world’s last negative rate.
Eleven of 21 sectors surveyed saw increases in winter bonus payments at major Japanese firms.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 13, 2024
Winter bonuses at major Japan firms see modest rise
The average increased for the second year in a row, though at a slower pace than the 7.77% growth marked in winter 2022.
Japanese workers' real wages kept shrinking for a 20th month in November, raising fresh alarm for the sustainability of the country's economic recovery as firms enter the period of annual pay negotiations with labor unions.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2024
Japan’s slower wage growth adds to reasons for BOJ to hold
Nominal cash earnings for workers rose 0.2% from the previous year, decelerating sharply from a 1.5% increase in October, the labor ministry said.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a New Year’s event hosted by Rengo, the nation’s biggest trade union federation, in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 6, 2024
Kishida and Rengo chief amplify push for strong wage growth
Wage gains feeding into demand-led price gains are a condition for any move to normalize monetary policy.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s new plant nears completion in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jan 1, 2024
Competitive pay at TSMC plant may ripple across Japan and beat inflation
The chipmaker's compensation packages can serve as a wakeup call to manufacturers in other regions of the country, economists say.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi took office on Dec. 14 after his predecessor quit over a political funds scandal.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 27, 2023
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi vows to tackle distrust
Hayashi, who took office after his predecessor quit over a funding scandal, says revising the relevant law is related to freedom of political activity.
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
One dead, three missing as heavy rain batters Tohoku
Camera footage shows the Mogami River bursting its banks in Tozawa, Yamagata Prefecture, on Friday morning.
Yen melt-up nudges Japanese stocks into correction territory
Japanese stocks are down 10% from their July peak as the yen strengthens.
Yen rally could help end crushing wage decay in Japan
Some economists say a sticky weak yen trend would have a negative impact on Japan's real wage growth.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Terunofuji, as he tends to do, returns to stamp his authority on sumo pretenders
Terunofuji (left) throws down Kirishima on Tuesday to build on his perfect record at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament.
Japanese startups advised to internationalize to get some global mojo
Entrepreneurs who participated in the Beyond Japan Zero to X program last year share their experiences in the United States during a meeting in May in Tokyo.

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