Takaichi Vows to Back Up Pay Hikes at Small Firms

Tokyo, March 23 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stressed Monday that her government will make utmost efforts to help small companies raise wages.

"It is important to spread the pay hike momentum from large companies to smaller businesses in regional areas," she said of this year's "shunto" spring wage negotiations at a meeting held among government, labor and management representatives at the prime minister's office in Tokyo.

"We will do everything we can to prepare an environment" that allows small companies to increase wages, Takaichi added.

In the 2026 shunto, a number of large companies offered their wage proposals on Wednesday last week, with many of them, including automakers and electronics makers, fully accepting pay hike demands from the labor side.

Referring to this, Takaichi said that the government has taken measures to encourage companies to raise wages, such as the compilation of economic packages and supplementary budgets, rather than urging businesses alone to make efforts, and that these initiatives have "paid off."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]