business

Summer bonuses up by 4.99% among major companies

13 Comments

Summer bonuses at major Japanese companies are up by an average of 4.99% this year, the sharpest increase since 1991, according to the results of a survey by Keidanren (Japan Business Federation).

The survey of 240 major companies showed that the average summer bonus is 809,502 yen, the Nikkei Shimbun reported. The last time bonuses increased by this much was just before the bubble economy burst in 1991.

Keidanren attributed the increase this year to strong earnings by export-driven companies and the weakening yen, the Nikkei said.

The highest average summer bonus was 910,286 yen in 2007.

© Japan Today

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13 Comments
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StormRAug. 09, 2013 - 07:18PM JST

Lots of workers round the world dont get bonuses either so what?

What is a bonus? The corporate profit (cash inflow) is not immediately shared to workers. It is kept by corporation for many selfish reasons.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

our bonuses is down by 60 percent this month because of our as*hole department head! he won`t even let us use our sick leave pay when we travel to our own country. i hope i can file a complaint anonymously to stop this abuses.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"bonuses" are simply delayed salary. Not real extra money bonuses. Scrap this stupid system and just include with the monthly salary

.

Not really. I believe until the financial crisis in 2008, there was a belief in Japan that bonuses were guaranteed and part of your salary. Even in the mortgage loan documents, there is the option to make double payments at bonus times. However it is still technically a bonus and in the firm's discretion. My Japanese wife's department's 2009 average bonus was something like 3 man JPY in 2009, which was practically nothing. But yes, they still got a "bonus".

Firms love to keep these payments as bonuses since it gives them the flexibility to adjust their costs. But still it is money where employees do not know how much they will get until they see it in their bank accounts. And you cannot make a budget or plan big cash outflows when you do not know how much money you will get.

If Japanese firms are really serious about supporting the Japanese economy, they really need to increase the wages substantially and need to hire more permanent employees. Until then "bonuses increased by xx%" news really do not mean much.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"bonuses" are simply delayed salary. Not real extra money bonuses. Scrap this stupid system and just include with the monthly salary.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

If the aim is to keep an increased and sustained consumption level, then not bonuses but salaries have to increase.

There is a big difference between getting an increased salary every month rather than waiting for a periodic bonus, which - being a bonus - may fluctuate depending on the performance of the company and is not guaranteed to be paid as many have found out in the financial crisis.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

StormR - bonuses are part of the normal salary process. They are not "extra money" so as to speak, but rather a delay in the payment process. The average bonus only brings wages(in most cases of ordinary workers) up to average.

And the data on the % of workers receiving bonuses is very misleading. My wife received a ¥40,000 bonus - whoopee - for the prior 6 months - that's about ¥40/hr. Many got less. But they will all figure in on the "those who got bonuses statistics, proving japan is recovering" hype pushed by those with much to gain from waffle.

As stated by dog - 20m get zilch and untold millions get zilch + pennies.

Most of the workers(+50%) do it hard in japan. Big companies employ only a very small % of all workers, but their plight occupies a disproportianate amount of media attention.

Abe & Aso and their cohorts are all spooners.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

I am so happy for the employees who get this nice bonus, even though I don't get one. Perhaps if the economy continues to improve and my company makes record profits, I might possibly get some kind of bonus in the future, lol.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Lots of workers round the world dont get bonuses either so what?

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

StormRAug. 09, 2013 - 04:11PM JST

I guess there will still be those who somehow see it as a bad thing though.

Yeah like the 20 million workers in Japan who don't get a bonus

2 ( +5 / -3 )

More positive news on the economy and proof that things are filtering down finally.

I guess there will still be those who somehow see it as a bad thing though.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Ooo-h-h-h,... I like the way Japan Today included: The last time bonuses increased by this much was just before the bubble economy burst in 1991.

Sounds ominous...

The difference this time is that there's nothing else to "burst" anymore... except maybe the dams holding back the radioactively "enriched" runoff in Fukushima...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Our bonuses were up, too.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

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