Kishida aims to narrow income gap through pay hikes

So he's going to shave a few million off his salary? He'll still keep his bonuses though, won't he?

Pay hikes, that just cause inflation. So that won't take any effect in real life, most of items already increase price by that time.

Government cannot force companies to increase wages-what is the article’s author talking about?

How about cutting taxes on the middle class? How about allowing a deduction on education expenses? How about increasing the mortgage deduction?

That’s quicker and more effective.

When these politicians talk about “urging” something, it means they lack the political will to actually do something.

So he wants to tax more of the rich to be distribute to the lower income? Where have I heard this before?

So he wants to tax more of the rich to be distribute to the lower income? Where have I heard this before?

Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark etc. All the best countries in the world.

The premise of the article is odd, to say the least. Everyone affected are employed by the private sector, which decides salaries. How is the prime minister going to "realize" high salaries in the private sector, short of issuing legally binding directives or penalizing the private sector, which we all know would never do?

...there would be no new growth without distribution.

That's quite true.

One can only consume so much and one only needs so much.

Bring back go to travel!

Comedy gold.

Back in Soviet Russia the people said, "We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us." In Japan the LDP pretends to ask Keidanren for wage increases and Keidanren pretends to think about it.

Bla bla bla! Abe said the same thing. We all know how that worked out.

StrangerlandToday  07:35 am JST

Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark etc. All the best countries in the world

Yup what I meant was we've heard this before with J politicians but little or nothing has been done.

Raise minimum wage, enforce the Labour laws that exist. Get those at the bottom a livable wage. Then once the results of that take effect, look at tax levels, economic activity. Government expenditure, what we don’t need and what won’t work is this constant inaction dressed up in a 30 second sound bite, that’s ends again in naught for tax payers and the economy.

The percentage of people who earn more than ¥10M in Japan is less than 4%. You see how bad salaries are in Japan?

The number of people on 10M yen is not the problem. The problem is the number of adults on measly amounts like 1000 yen an hour, who don't even get travel money to get there.

Economic stimulus of financial support for Japanese citizens and residents please

China's Xi was able to do it and still doing it.

Wealth Equalization and fair distribution is the only path towards prosperity.

Priorities should be more support for those with children and pay increases for workers whose companies refuse to give pay increases(talking to you English education companies). Giving pay increases to those already earning 6-7million a year is not going to do anything but make the rich richer,,

The percentage of people who earn more than ¥10M in Japan is less than 4%. You see how bad salaries are in Japan?

I never imagined I'd reach the top 4%! Woo-hoo!

I rather enjoy the stagnant prices in Japan. Salary increases is the last thing I want to see. It will just mean my money will be worth less.

Kishida aims to narrow income gap through pay hikes

So what does this mean .... He is giving himself a raise?

 urge the broader private sector to raise wages

LDP love to urge which the pandemic has shown us means absolutely nothing.

Kishida pledged to support measures for all generations without going into detail.

In layman's terms he has no idea what to do about it.

sad and pathetic rhetoric, nothing will change as the LDP puppet masters are still in charge

Oh boy, can't wait for a 5 yen pay hike over 10 years.

Pay hikes? Exceedingly good idea!

Lets start with nurses, carers and master bakers.

"There would be no (wealth) distribution without growth. But it is also true there would be no new growth without distribution," the 64-year-old Kishida said...

Does Kishida understand the logical conclusion of his own statement? It is that neither can grow.

Oh dear.

Kishida pledged to support measures for all generations without going into detail.

That might have been his winning move

During the campaign, Kono, known as a reform-minded maverick, drew questions from his rivals

Yup. Better to stick your head in the sand and pretend that all is well of you want to get elected.

The main income gap in Japan seems to be between those who are permanent employees and the growing number of people who are employed on temporary contracts or who are freelancers.

If he wants to address that gap, a first step would be to reform all the pension, health insurance, etc.. systems which dramatically favor permanent employees, even though those people tend to be on better salaries to start with.

If you're a freelancer you end up paying twice as much for half the benefit!

But it is also true there would be no new growth without distribution," the 64-year-old lawmaker said, vowing to realize a "virtuous cycle of growth and distribution."

Some non blinkered politicians and business men have realized there is widespread disillusionment with 40 years of stagnant or falling versus inflation wages and late stage capitalism. If you are a fan of capitalism, modifying it with Democratic socialist policies is how it was saved in the past.

Japan could turn from its LDP led neo liberal path and be an example for the world a la the Scandinavian nations et Al.

Well Kono was obviously going to rock the boat too much so they voted for another guy who will "urge" changes and "endorse plans" without being specific

Soooooo, that's about how it goes in this country

He is not even near to a position to demand from businesses to distribute broad wage hikes. That only is possible maybe in China or such and even there at the moment only in theory. In addition, if there’s more of future digitalization, robotics, EV cars, controlled downturn for reaching climate change goals and all such, many jobs are becoming obsolete or lower paid in general, so that again there are more society gaps , differences and the few remaining wage hikes nullified and not leading to more consumption or business activities on average. Anyway, the causal sequence is decisive, better education, more inventions and research for competitive products, effective business with sophisticated production methods, and if then all the goods or services could be sold globally, only then there’s something for wide and fair distribution. In other words, to start all this with education, you even need first again some more little children to fill the rows at schools.

I haven't notice any real change in the 35 years living in Japan.....

I'm not holding my breath this time. Glacial speed comes to mind but with global warming... Change in Japan is now much slower than that.

....And in other news, companies decided that the time for the next Great Push To Temporary Workers Wherever/Whenever Possible is here once again! What full-time staff services can be eliminated by employing more "temp staff" workers? Let's see...

Remember Abe saying the exact same thing Kishida's saying? How he talked, and talked, and talked about how "great" it would be and how companies "should" unilaterally give more of their profits to their workers? lol. Even talked about publicizing companies' names who refused to raise wages?

What happened? Nothing happened!

Let's face it: Japan, always about a generation behind the West in a macro economic sense, is seeing economic conditions develop where a husband/wife's income together no longer matches the pay a salaryman once earned on his own. "Where have we heard this before?"

Soon, that husband/wife duo will be at your doorstep, delivering food to you on their bikes in their spare time, to scrounge up some more dough for themselves, because even both their jobs still won't cut the mustard (to mix my food metaphors). THAT'S the ONLY way we'll see actually across-the-board wage rises...

Maverick

Are you joking ?

Still spending printed money and no change.

kohakuebisuToday  09:06 am JST

The percentage of people who earn more than ¥10M in Japan is less than 4%. You see how bad salaries are in Japan?

The number of people on 10M yen is not the problem. The problem is the number of adults on measly amounts like 1000 yen an hour, who don't even get travel money to get there.

Pacific SauryToday  09:17 am JST

The percentage of people who earn more than ¥10M in Japan is less than 4%. You see how bad salaries are in Japan?

I never imagined I'd reach the top 4%! Woo-hoo!

The problem is the number of adults on measly amounts like 1000 yen an hour, who don't even get travel money to get there.

That is a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself, I would assert.

Why do people take low paying wage jobs? Why don’t they take higher paying wage jobs?

It is in the answers to these questions that a solution that is closer to the root can be found, I believe, although further questions need be asked along the way.

I have a hard time believing that only 4% of Japanese wage earners are getting over ¥10M. Anybody working in government either local, prefectural or national after the age of 45 is at that pay grade. Then you have all your major corporations, banks, insurance companies, hospitals, etc. Anyway, I hope he is able to raise salaries and especially help those at the bottom of the ladder. Too long they have been ignored and they are the backbone of the economy!

Giving pay increases to those already earning 6-7million a year is not going to do anything but make the rich richer,,

Surely you mean 67 million a year, right?

6-7 is kinda average household income, if I am not mistaken.

Let's face it: Japan, always about a generation behind the West in a macro economic sense

I would say two generations behind.

In the west, post the war they followed the idea of the Keynesians, big government spending and regulation. Then they all hit the wall in the 1970’s and come the ‘80s big government regulation and high taxation fell out of favour - Thatcherism, Reaganomics, Rogernomics came in and turned things on their head.

But Japan only started racking up crazy debts itself since the bubble popped, and even today clings to big government stimulus, regulations and the like. (Some things changed like a floating exchange rate, but this should have been packaged with other reforms at the same time)

Japan needs to have a big program of reform to shape up again, but it never seems to come. I don’t think it will until it is evident to the Japanese people that the country has worked itself into a crisis situation by the way it has been carrying on.

In the west, post the war they followed the idea of the Keynesians, big government spending and regulation. Then they all hit the wall in the 1970’s and come the ‘80s big government regulation and high taxation fell out of favour - Thatcherism, Reaganomics, Rogernomics came in and turned things on their head.

And it has been an utter disaster. Taxes on the wealthiest were progressive at abou 80 percent during the Keynesian era. Unprecedented growth. A high school graduate could get a full time job and support a stay at home wife,, send kids to college with little debt and buy a home and two cars.

Then came Reaganism, trickle down, Friedmanesque voodoo econ and it turned things on its head. Too many countries like the US, UK and Japan are still sticking too this despite overwhelming public opposition only distracted by identitrianism and nationalism.

@fxgai

But Japan only started racking up crazy debts...

"Only Japan"?!? US national debt began its growth trajectory from that time, ie, during the Reagan years, thanks to his deficit spending, though the mid to late 90s (the "Clinton years) saw the debt level fall for a while before it resumed its rise after Bush took over.

Thatcherism, Reaganomics, Rogernomics came in and turned things on their head.

They sure did! Low growth, shrinking middle class, stagnant wages, financial crises. LOL.

But Japan only started racking up crazy debts...

"Only Japan"?!? 

Oh dear. Reading comprehension fail.

Not 'only Japan' as in Japan and nowhere else; 'Japan only started" as in it wasn't until the bubble burst that Japan started to go crazy.

Why do people take low paying wage jobs? Why don’t they take higher paying wage jobs?

Next time you are in the convenience store or ordering from your barista, please go straight to the source and inquire. It shouldn't be too hard, here in 2021 Japan or any other late stage capitalist economy to find a wealth of individuals ready to provide all too obvious answers.

Then came Reaganism, trickle down, Friedmanesque voodoo econ and it turned things on its head. Too many countries like the US, UK and Japan are still sticking too this

But Japan never had any such awakening as occurred in the UK, US, or other places, that is comparable.

Koizumi talked about it, but only went as far as half dealing with the post service. The rest was just minor tinkering.

Abe never fired that third arrow.

I totally agree with Mark and fxgai

MarkXToday  04:18 pm JST

I have a hard time believing that only 4% of Japanese wage earners are getting over ¥10M. Anybody working in government either local, prefectural or national after the age of 45 is at that pay grade. Then you have all your major corporations, banks, insurance companies, hospitals, etc. Anyway, I hope he is able to raise salaries and especially help those at the bottom of the ladder. Too long they have been ignored and they are the backbone of the economy!

1( +1 / -0 )

fxgaiToday  04:22 pm JST

Giving pay increases to those already earning 6-7million a year is not going to do anything but make the rich richer,,

Surely you mean 67 million a year, right?

6-7 is kinda average household income, if I am not mistaken.

Sorry that I wrote 10 million was peanuts before and offended somebody. 10 million is less than peanuts. It is more like soybeans.