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The role of labor unions
Japanese workers mark this year’s May Day amid continued hard economic times and a harsh employment situation. This is an opportune time for serious discussion on the role labor unions can play to create a society where people can toil with hope for the future. Japan’s unemployment rate in February remained stuck at relatively high…
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First May Day in Post-LDP Japan: Workers Say, “Nothing Has Changed”
Over the last ten years, wages in Japan declined 10% even as the profits of big corporations doubled. The average manufacturing worker saw a month’s pay disappear from his annual earning last year. Meanwhile, none of the Democratic Party’s electoral promises — the removal of the Futenma base, health care reform to relieve the hardship…
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Wages see first rise in 22 months
Wages rose for the first time in 22 months in March after a pickup in manufacturing led to a sharp increase in overtime pay, the labor ministry said in a preliminary report released Friday. Workers at companies with five employees or more earned ¥275,637 a month on average, with overtime and other nonscheduled pay gaining…
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Japan Mar Average Wages +0.8% Y/Y, 1st Rise In 22 Months
The average monthly total cash earnings per regular employee in Japan rose by a preliminary 0.8% year-over-year to Y275,637 in March, posting the first y/y rise in 22 months, data from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare released on Friday showed. It followed a 0.6% fall in February, when the pace of the y/y…
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Japan Spending, Wages Rise as Prices Slump 13th Month
Japan’s household spending, wages and job openings increased, while consumer prices tumbled for a 13th straight month, signaling a sustained recovery that’s still not strong enough to end deflation. Wages advanced 0.8 percent, the first increase in 22 months, the Labor Ministry said. Finance Minister Naoto Kan said today that the central bank may forecast…
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Year-end bonuses down 9.3% on year
Average year-end bonuses paid to workers at businesses with at least five employees declined last year by a record 9.3 percent from the previous year to less than 400,000 yen, the labor ministry said Wednesday. The average year-end bonus stood at 380,258 yen, marking the first time it has fallen under 400,000 yen since the…
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Big firms approve pay raises
Carmakers, electrical manufacturers and other major domestic corporations on Wednesday offered to give their workers mandatory annual pay raises in response to their labor unions’ demand in this year’s wage hike talks. Their replies were perceived as satisfactory to labor unions at these companies, most of which had demanded automatic annual pay raises–known as teiki-shokyu,…
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Toyota workers here get bonus
Toyota Motor Corp. workers are likely to secure bonuses equivalent to at least five months’ wages for this year, sources involved with this spring’s annual labor-management pay negotiations said Thursday. The Toyota union is seeking annual bonuses worth five months’ wages plus ¥100,000 in this year’s “shunto” talks, while management continues refusing to accept the…
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Average wages mark 1st rise in 20 months
Average monthly wages including overtime pay at companies with more than five employees rose to 273,142 yen in January, up 0.1 percent from a year earlier, marking the first yearly increase in 20 months, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Wednesday. Meanwhile, average hours worked, including overtime and worked holidays, reached 136.7 hours per…
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Average per capita income up for fourth straight year
The national average per capita income has increased for the fourth consecutive year, according to the Annual Report on Prefectural Accounts for fiscal 2007 released by the Cabinet Office. The figure, averaged from prefectural averages, came to approximately 3.05 million yen, a 0.7 percent increase from fiscal 2006. While the variation coefficient dropped for the…