Japanese companies agreed to raise wages by an average 5.01 percent in this year's spring wage negotiations, marking the third consecutive year of pay increases of over 5 percent, the country's largest labor union said Friday.
The Japanese Trade Union Confederation, also known as Rengo, said its final tally of wage negotiation results from over 5,300 member unions showed the average monthly pay hike stood at 16,400 yen.
Consumer spending remains sluggish in Japan, with wage growth having lagged behind price increases until recently. Japan's real wages rose for the fourth straight month in April. But a surge in oil and raw material costs stemming from the Middle East conflict threatens to accelerate inflation.
The pace of wage growth slowed from the previous year's average increase of 5.25 percent.
"We accept the result as a step forward toward a society where pay raises are normal," said Akira Nidaira, an assistant general secretary at Rengo, at a press conference, adding that smaller firms did what they could.
Wages at small- and medium-sized companies increased by an average of 4.69 percent, or 12,866 yen, even though they still lagged behind the pace of increases at larger firms.
The figures are based on wage negotiation results from 5,368 unions as of Wednesday.
© KYODO
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Taciturn
My boss obviously didn't get the memo.
ShinyAndChrome
LOL. 90% of bosses didn't get the memo! :-)
This is classic Kyodo: That article sounds like everyone got a 5% payrises, but it is misleading:
That 5% pay rise only went to members of the trade union Rengo who represents about 10% of Japanese workers who are mostly full-time and belong to big companies like Toyota who can afford a wage hike. The article also claims wages went up 4.69% at SMEs, but they are only talking about Rengo SMEs!
The headline should be So the article should be *"5% for 3rd straight year FOR RENGO WORKERS"*
Trade unions are good. More Japanese should be in them. And Kyodo should print both sides of their stories:
"The 2026 Shuntō wage hike averaged 5.26% — three consecutive years above 5% — yet 2025 real wages fell 1.3% YoY, marking four straight years of decline Roughly 4 percentage points of the raise are absorbed by inflation, rising social insurance premiums, and a newly introduced child-support levy, leaving an estimated net gain of only +1.3% 48.4% of SMEs say a ¥1,500 minimum wage is "impossible," while labor-cost-driven bankruptcies surged 77.2% to 195 cases"
https://isvd.or.jp/en/columns/2026-05-01-wage-hike-real-wage-paradox-2026
https://news.futunn.com/en/post/75513226/japan-s-shunto-wage-negotiations-officially-conclude-salary-increases-exceed
You can get real wage data here: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/list/30-1a.html
Newgirlintown
“The headline should be So the article should be *"5% for 3rd straight year FOR RENGO WORKERS"”
Oh, well done. Back of the net.
kurisupisu
Yes, the yen anaemic as usual and MOST Japanese can’t afford to buy anything but instant ramen and secondhand clothes.
I am living in Japan and have opportunities to travel.
What do I notice?
More foreigners in the Shinkansen Green Car than Japanese.
On planes: More foreigners in higher classes.I usually pay for a reserved seat on planes and notice the lack of Japanese.
70% of the time my seating row is vacant flying in or out of Japan.
High class hotels are booming but the customers are not Japanese.
Restaurants are full of tourists taking advantage of the weak yen.
Even Korean wages are storming ahead and higher than Japan’s on average.
Compare Tokyo’s staid architecture with Bangkok and notice the energy emanating from the buildings and the fresh innovative designs.
Higher wages in Japan says Kyodo.
Jokers!
Aly Rustom
Agree with all the above.
Newgirlintown
“More foreigners in the Shinkansen Green Car than Japanese.”
Oh, boo hoo. Hurts when the shoe’s on the other foot and you’re turning into the Thailand of Asia, doesn’t it?
WoodyLee
Excellent.
dan
This is propaganda!
Only the big companies like Toyota , Aisin + Denso are upping wages !!
tora
You know what they say about lies and statistics.
IVO
it may looks nice on paper.
reality is very different.majority did not get any extra money at all,while inflation made income lower/in reality/...
but yes hatarake gambare...gaman..we all know this well.
sakurasuki
Wage increase 5%, rice price already increase 100%, double its price.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/20/japans-core-inflation-hits-highest-level-since-jan-2023-putting-pressure-on-boj-to-raise-rates.html
Blacklabel
When 5% is like 12,000 yen it’s kinda useless.
WuzUrPCGuy
I agree with everyone here. My wife said, "Hidoi Kuni desu ne!". Yep. And Toyota is taxing people in Ca! Jeeezzzzzz
shogun36
No. It should say:
RENGO's average wages up over 5% for 3rd straight year.
Why are they trying to imply that Japan' average as a whole has been going up?
Do they really think people who actually earn paychecks in Japan, don't know the real deal?
Who are they trying to fool?
Lee Low
What is the average family household income in Tokyo? What is a comfortable monthly income?
SoloTraveller
Try getting hands on the Tokudane (Ekinet) and Hayatoku (SmartEX) fares for the Green Cars. The fares get very close to normal car ones. Also, Hikari has slightly cheap Green Cars fares than Nozomi.
DeeZee
Hilarious, It took them a severe labor shortage and a global energy crisis for them to raise wages. I think it's too little too late.
Slayer
Says who? The data?
Akula
Japanese employers are notoriously cheap - local mall in Shikoku has plenty of job openings that don't pay much more than 1000 yen an hour. an extra 50 yen an hour would mean another 2000 yen at the end of the week, better than nothing but still a pittance.
Akula
And yes I will be in the Green Car when I visit later this year. The JR Green Car pass is exceptional value.
Agent_Neo
Although the Japanese economy faces low growth, it has not come to a standstill.
GDP continues to rise by 0.5% to 0.8% year-on-year, and stock prices are also trending upward.
While the economy is significantly affected by global events—such as the potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz—the primary challenges are the declining birthrate and rising wages. It can hardly be said that the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is effectively addressing these issues.
Incidentally, the apparent strength of the South Korean economy is merely an illusion.
While exports are robust, factors such as US monetary policy and net selling by foreign investors have kept the won weak—hovering near the 1,500-won-to-the-dollar mark, a level not seen since the Global Financial Crisis.
South Korea faces a birthrate decline even more severe than Japan's and has one of the highest elderly poverty rates in the OECD; furthermore, high interest burdens and mounting household debt have kept domestic private consumption weak, acting as a drag on the entire economy.
Unlike Japan, the country runs a primary deficit exceeding $100 billion annually.
In short, debt is piling up.
The economy is driven almost exclusively by the semiconductor divisions of chaebol conglomerates like Samsung; if that engine stalls, the South Korean economy will effectively collapse. Meanwhile, the reality is that foreign companies are fleeing the country year after year.
Pukey2
Agent_Neo:
That is some positive spin on that glaze.
Lee Low
What is considered high income salary in Japan? Per year?
A garlic eater_
Those are old yens in the photo. The guy on the new version has a much more colorful past.
kohakuebisu
I like this question a lot.
I think a lot of people have quite confused views of money, so it is important to separate perceptions (i.e., "what is considered high income?") from reality (i.e., "what is high income").
A crazy high percentage (something like 92%) of Japanese consider themselves "middle class". This may be their perception but cannot be true by any recognized definition of middle class. This would mean lots of middle class truck drivers, cleaners, etc, lots of middle class living in public housing, lots of middle class with little in the way of assets. All we can conclude from the 92% number is that Japanese do not like referring to themselves as "working class" or "rich".
wallace
When you pay all your monthly bills and still have 50% of your salary left.