Japan Panel Agrees on 31-Yen Minimum Wage Increase

Tokyo, Aug. 1 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese government panel agreed on Monday to call for a hike of 31 yen, or 3.3 pct, in the weighted average minimum hourly wage in the country for fiscal 2022, apparently considering rising prices.

The call by the subcommittee of the Central Minimum Wages Council, which advises the labor minister, would raise the average minimum wage to 961 yen per hour.

The 31-yen hike is higher than the previous year’s target of 28 yen, which was the largest since fiscal 2002, when Japan started measuring minimum wages on an hourly basis.

The subcommittee will submit its recommendation on the issue to labor minister Shigeyuki Goto on Tuesday.

Based on the recommendation, which will call on each prefecture to raise its minimum hourly wage by 30 or 31 yen, prefectures will decide their hikes to implement new minimum wages in October.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]