Japan Press Weekly

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2023 October 4 - 10 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Gender wage gap increases with firm size

The larger the firm size, the greater the gender wage gap. Akahata reported this fact on October 5 based on its calculations using Labor Ministry data.

The gender pay gap reporting system, which obliges companies with more than 301 employees to make public their gender wage gaps, began in July 2022. The Labor Ministry released the data of 9,020 companies covered by the system. Using the ministry data as of September 26, Akahata calculated the women’s-to-men’s earnings ratio by firm size.

According to Akahata, women employed in companies with 301-500 employees earn 71.6% of men’s earnings. Women in companies with 501-1,000 employees are paid 68.5% of their male counterparts are paid, 66.8% in companies with 1,001-5,000 employees, and 65.8% in companies with more than 5,001 employees.

In the latest Global Gender Gap Index released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Japan ranked 125th out of 146 countries. In the economic category, Japan ranked 123rd, the lowest among G7 countries, which reflected pay differences between female and male workers doing the same jobs, the gender gap in estimated income, and the gender imbalance in managerial positions.

The Japanese Communist Party in its “Economic Recovery Plan” proposes to eliminate the gender wage gap by enhancing the gender gap reporting system and creating a legal framework under which corporations are required to draft and publicize their plans to reduce and work to close gender pay gaps and are instructed by the relevant state authorities to implement their plans. In addition, the JCP calls for establishing a rule which imposes on companies the disclosure of the ratio of non-regular employees to their workforce and the wage gap between regular and non-regular workers.

Past related article:
> JCP publishes economic revival plan [September 29, 2023]