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Deaths show low-income earners most vulnerable to savage heat of Japanese summer
One 48-year-old man, who was once homeless but had begun working, died of what is thought to be heat stroke on July 26 at his un-air conditioned Tokyo apartment. On Aug. 15 a 76-year-old man in Saitama, north-west of Tokyo, died of heatstroke because he couldn’t afford the electricity to run his air conditioner. “People…
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Hike in minimum wages
Hourly minimum wages are set to create a society in which all people can earn a living if they work diligently. The Central Minimum Wages Council of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has decided on an average raise of 15 yen in minimum hourly wages set by prefectures. In its manifesto for the…
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Average minimum hourly wage to rise 15 yen to 728 yen in Japan
A government advisory panel is expected to recommend Friday that a weighted-average hourly minimum wage in Japan be raised by 15 yen to 728 yen for fiscal 2010 that started in April, government sources said Thursday. The increase would exceed 10 yen for fiscal 2009 and be the fourth consecutive double-digit increase. The government’s growth…
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Wages Rise for Fourth Month on Overtime as Japanese Employers Limit Hiring
Japan’s wages rose for a fourth month as employers had staff work more hours instead of adding to payrolls, a trend that may sustain the recovery without reducing the economy’s reliance on exports to propel growth. Monthly wages including overtime and bonuses increased 1.5 percent in June from a year earlier to 437,677 yen ($5,050),…
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Executive pay on the rise at top Japanese firms
Japan has at least three listed companies where a top executive earned more than 100 times the average annual salary for employees in the year ended March, according to their settlement accounts. “I felt disheartened to hear that the president received about 900 million yen when many workers are wondering every day how to save…
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Foreign talent feeling gypped by top agency
Inagawa Motoko Office, one of the largest and oldest show business agencies catering to foreign performers in Japan, recently came under fire from some of its registered artists for not paying them in a timely manner for work they have done. In recent interviews with The Japan Times, 10 people registered with IMO said those…
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Labour Ministry: Wages fell 3.3% in FY2009
According to a report released today by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, wages in Japan fell 3.3% to 315,311 yen per month in fiscal 2009. This is the strongest drop seen since the ministry began issuing data in 1991, while 2009 was the third consecutive year in which average wages fell in Japan…
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Economy picks up despite deflation
The economy grew at its fastest pace in three quarters as an export surge prompted companies to increase capital spending even as the nation endures persistent deflation at home. Gross domestic product rose 4.9 percent pace in the first three months of 2010 at an annual rate, less than forecast, a Cabinet Office report showed…
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Still waiting for that last paycheck
Reader TS writes: “I return to the U.S. next week and I was supposed to receive my final pay check from a really bad ALT company . . . last week, but did not receive payment. I’ve called them but the secretaries say that the people in charge are not in the office. I called…
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Wages fell record 3.3% last year
Monthly wages took their largest drop ever — 3.3 percent — in fiscal 2009 ended in March as the global financial crisis and recession took their toll, the labor ministry said Monday. Wages came to ¥315,311 on average, down for a third consecutive year and the sharpest year-on-year drop since fiscal 1991, when the survey’s…