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2012 January 11 - 17 [LABOR]

Large firms hold \90 trillion in internal reserves, workers lose \500,000 in wages

January 17, 2012
Large corporations with more than one billion yen in capital increased their internal reserves by 90 trillion yen, compared to the FY 2000, holding 266 trillion yen in total in the FY 2010.

A survey conducted by the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) and the Japan Research Institute of Labor Movement (Rodo-soken) reveals that private-sector workers lost about 500,000 yen in their average yearly wages (4.12 million yen from the 4.61 million yen) compared to 10 years ago.

Large corporations, while claiming a crisis that they must survive due to intensifying competition in international markets and a historic appreciation of the yen, have steadily hoarded increased profits by replacing regular employees with contingent workers and cutting their wages.

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) keeps rejecting the use of internal reserves to increase wages and jobs on the grounds that its member companies hold their internal reserves in the form of production facilities and inventories.

However, cash and liquid capital amount to 60 trillion yen in the top listed companies alone.

Toyota Motor Corporation comes in first place in the amount of internal reserves held which increased by 587.4 billion yen from the previous year to 13.86 trillion yen. The utilization of just 1% of its internal reserves will make it possible for the company to employ an additional 46,000 workers. Using 0.47% of these reserves will enable the auto maker to implement an increase of 10,000 yen in monthly wages for 318,000 regular workers and 66,000 non-regular workers.

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Internal reserves are cumulative earnings held after paying taxes based on revenues subtracted expenses such as the cost of raw materials and personnel expenses, and subtracting dividends to its shareholders from the remaining revenues. Internal reserves consisting of retained surplus, capital surplus, and other reserves are reported in financial statements.
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