Japan Press Weekly

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2015 July 29 - August 4 [LABOR]

18-yen increase in minimum wages will not narrow regional wage gaps

A subcommittee of the Central Minimum Wage Council, an advisory panel to the Labor Minister, on July 29 announced its recommendation that regional minimum wages be increased by 18 yen on average to 798 yen per hour.

Following the announcement by the tripartite subcommittee consisting of representatives of labor, management, and labor experts, the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) issued a statement criticizing the proposed amount as insufficient to meet workers’ demands and for failing to narrow the gaps in regional minimum wages.

The government, the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), and the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) in 2010 made an agreement that they will work to increase the regional minimum hourly wages to an average of 1,000 yen by 2020. In order to achieve this, the wage rate needs to be increased by 44 yen per year. The latest proposal, however, falls far short of achieving this target.

In addition, the recommendation by the government panel will widen the regional minimum wage gaps, possibly fueling the further depopulation of rural areas.

The minimum wages are set by prefectures in accordance with the central government’s recommendation. The rate is highest in Tokyo (888 yen) and the lowest in Okinawa and other six prefectures (677 yen). The government council proposed to raise minimum wages by 19 yen in Tokyo and by 16 yen in Okinawa, making regional disparities even wider.

Prefectural minimum wage councils will start discussions to determine what amount of minimum wage should be based on the central council’s recommendation.

Zenroren in its statement called on union members around the country to urge prefectural councils to revise minimum wages to rates higher than the amount recommended by the central council. Zenroren expressed its determination to work hard to achieve an across-the-board minimum wage rate of at least 1,000 yen per hour.


Past related articles:
> JCP Daimon calls for minimum wage reforms to narrow regional income gaps [June 12, 2015]
> Minimum wage increase vital to improve people’s livelihoods [July 9, 2014]