Japanese Major Corporations Including Toyota Accept Union Wage Increase Demands

Impact of High Inflation and Labor Shortages

Major Japanese corporations have consecutively accepted labor unions' demands for wage increases, and it is expected that wages will rise by an average of more than 5% this year as well, following last year, according to reports by Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) and others on the 12th.

Japanese automobile and electronics companies announced the scale of wage increases on this day, which was the concentrated response day to union demands during the spring wage negotiations known as 'Chuntu.'

Toyota Motor accepted the union's demand for a maximum monthly increase of 24,450 yen (approximately 239,000 won) as is. Electric companies such as Hitachi, Ltd. and NEC, as well as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Aeon Retail, also accepted the wage increase amounts requested by the unions.

Yonhap News

Mitsubishi Chemical decided to raise wages by 18,415 yen (approximately 180,000 won) per month, which is higher than the 15,346 yen (approximately 150,000 won) requested by the union. Nissan Motor, which has been experiencing poor performance, will increase wages by 16,500 yen (approximately 161,000 won) per month, slightly less than the union's demand.

Masakazu Tokura, chairman of Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), said regarding Chuntu on this day, "My impression that (wage increases) are becoming established has turned into certainty."

Jiji Press reported, "There have been consecutive responses comparable to last year's historic wage increase rate due to high inflation and severe labor shortages." Nikkei analyzed, "Following the high level in 2024, which was the highest in 33 years, it seems likely that the average increase rate will exceed 5% for two consecutive years."

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