Keidanren Vows to Lead Wage Hike Efforts

Tokyo, Jan. 20 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, said Tuesday that it will lead efforts to ensure that the momentum for wage increases takes even deeper root in Japan.

In its guidelines for member companies regarding this year's "shunto" spring wage negotiations, released the same day, the country's largest business group said that pay scale hikes should be considered "the standard for wage negotiations."

"Continuous wage hikes are necessary to strengthen the Japanese economy," Keidanren Vice Chairman Hitoshi Nagasawa said at a press conference. He added that the group is basically heading in the same direction as the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, an umbrella organization for labor unions in the country, which has decided to seek wage increases of at least 5 pct in this year's shunto.

The guidelines said that considering implementing pay scale increases would be a "key pillar" in shunto talks, in terms of maintaining workers' living standards and securing labor amid inflation.

Keidanren floated ideas such as allocating a greater share of pay based on employees' contributions and giving younger workers larger wage hikes by providing a fixed-amount payment to all employees.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]