Winter bonuses at Japanese firms rise for 1st time in 3 yrs

The average winter bonus at large Japanese companies rose for the first time in three years, up 8.92 percent from a year earlier to 894,179 yen ($6,800), the country’s most powerful business lobby said Thursday.

It was the sharpest increase since the current calculation method was adopted in 1981, with the rise reflecting the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Japan Business Federation, known as Keidanren.

The average winter bonus was the third highest but did not recover to the level of the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

Of the 18 industries in the survey covering 162 major ...