Japan Press Weekly

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2014 April 2 - 8 [LABOR]

Japan’s minimum wage lowest among G7 countries

The hourly minimum wage in Japan is the lowest among developed countries, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Among G7 countries, five have minimum wage systems. Germany and Italy do not set such a standard because minimum wages in these countries are determined on an industry basis through labor-management negotiations. However, Germany plans to introduce a minimum wage system in 2015 to cope with problems associated with an increase in the number of contingent and migrant workers.

The minimum hourly wage in Japan is the lowest among the five countries, 6.6 dollars per hour after adjusting for purchasing power parity. The highest is 10.6 dollars in France, followed by 7.9 dollars in Britain and Canada, and then 7.25 dollars in the United States. Germany is said to set a minimum wage of 10.3 dollars.

U.S. President Barack Obama in February signed and enforced a presidential decree to increase the minimum wage for federal contract employees to 10.10 dollars.

Japan’s minimum hourly wage, which is set separately by each prefecture, is 764 yen on average at present. The Japanese Communist Party demands that regional minimum wages be raised to at least 1,000 yen across the board.