Japan Press Weekly

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2018 December 12 - 18 [ECONOMY]

Benefits of pro-business ‘Abenomics’ don’t trickle down

Unlike workers among other major economic powers, Japanese workers are experiencing low wage growth. This was shown in data released by a Labor Ministry-affiliated thinktank.

The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILPT) annually publishes a book titled “the Databook of International Labour Statistics”. In this year’s data book, there is a comparison of hourly earnings per worker in the manufacturing sector between Japan and other countries. In the comparison, JILPT used the OECD index which sets 2010 as the base year equal to 100.

According to the JILPT data book, Japanese workers’ hourly wage in 2016 was 4% higher than that in 2010. On the other hand, in 2016 in Germany, Britain, and the U.S., hourly wages increased by 16.3%, 11.8%, and 9.8% respectively from the 2010 level.

The OECD, based on member nations’ statistical data, compiled an index regarding workers’ nominal income which includes the total amount of base pay, seasonal bonuses, overtime pay, and regular allowances. The index covers only full-time workers.

Since the Abe government was inaugurated in 2012, workers’ wages grew only by 1% each year except in 2013 which saw a negative growth. In contrast, large corporations increased their profits through Prime Minister Abe’s so-called “trickle-down” economic policy of boosting stock prices, implementing corporate tax cut and other preferential treatment.

Past related article:
> Use of just small portion of internal reserves will increase Toyota regular workers’ monthly wages by 20,000 yen [January 12, 2018]
> Use of 1% of internal reserves will create 490,000 new jobs [January 26, 2017]
> Large corporations’ internal reserves hit record high while workers’ wages decline [September 2, 2016]
> Large corporations’ internal reserves hit record high under ‘Abenomics’ [September 3 and 4, 2015]