Japan's Largest Union Rengo Demands 5.85% Wage Increase This Year... Highest in 30 Years

Labor unions under Rengo (Japanese Trade Union Confederation), the largest labor union organization in Japan, have demanded the highest wage increase rate in 30 years in this year's wage negotiations.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun on the 8th, Rengo announced that as of the 4th, the wage increase rate demanded by its affiliated unions in this year's Chuntu (spring wage negotiations) was 5.85%, up 1.36 percentage points from last year. This is the highest level since the 1994 Chuntu (5.40%). The average wage increase demand, including base pay raises and regular promotions, was 17,606 yen, an increase of 4,268 yen from last year.

Rengo had previously announced a policy to demand a wage increase of over 5%. In last year's Chuntu, unions under Rengo demanded an average wage increase of 4.49%, and the final average wage increase rate was 3.58%.

The concentrated response day for large companies to reply to union wage increase demands in this year's Chuntu is the 13th. Wage negotiations for small and medium-sized enterprises will begin in earnest after the large companies' response day.

The Japanese government has been urging companies to raise wages in order to break free from the long-term deflation (economic stagnation accompanied by falling prices) in the Japanese economy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.