Japan Press Weekly

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2012 September 12 - 18 [LABOR]

Higher wages and more regular jobs needed: Labor Ministry

The Labor Ministry, in its 2012 White Paper on Labor and the Economy released on September 14, suggested the need to increase regular job opportunities and raise workers’ wages.

The white paper pointed out that the increase in the ratio of non-regular workers to the present 35.7% is a major cause in the reduction in consumption.

To raise workers’ salaries will bring a positive effect to the whole economy through expansion of consumption, it stressed.

While companies’ sales and ordinary profits reach a record high, their labor costs are below the level of the 1990s, the white paper asserted, and stated, “The increased profits lead to an increase in dividends and internal reserves.”