The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© KYODOKishida urges wage growth to revive Japan's economy
ISE, Mie©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© KYODO
37 Comments
Login to comment
diagonalslip
by giving them handouts..... (⌒▽⌒)
smithinjapan
I'm sure THIS time, after 16 years of it, will be the time they listen, Kishida. But hey, just to prompt them, why not give them another tax break before asking them to increase wages? I'm sure that will inspire them this time.
Ricky Kaminski13
Consistent effort must be made to not fall into the dreaded trap of chronic cynicism, but reading the list of lofty goals Kishida is TALKING about, compared to the monumental tech tonic plate worthy shifts that would have to occur for them to become reality , it really is a mission. You can literally go down the entire list and say , “ Yeah, naaa.”
Who else gets the feeling that the PM is just holding out for Hiroshima?
Spitfire
If you took away the priest and Kishida's ridiculous penguin suit it would look like a scene from every station in the Tokyo metro area during rush hour.
Tell_me_bout_it
Yeah he pledges now, after he and his crony Kuroda destroyed the assets of millions. When the chips are down, after all the damage is done, always pledge and JP people always support the LDP.
Mr Kipling
adding inflation, triggered by global food and energy price hikes in the wake of fail sanctions that backfired on Western economies last year, has been hurting Japan's economy.
Fixed it.
dagon
He stated the results of his LDP neo-liberal policies which have benefited Japan Inc. and their crony pols.
So this key driver of economic growth was deemed not necessary for these 3 decades in favor of corporate welfare and letting Japan Inc. engage in a worker devastating race to the bottom to prioritize shareholder value
Maybe Kishidas thinks urges to Keidanren to raise wages and prayers will gain political points?
They will have the same effect on rectifying the proper labor value of the populace
tamanegi
You beat me to it @smithinjapan regarding around 16 years of urging wage increases.
Two of my family relatives (Japanese) are having their salaries cut from this month.
In addition 100s of products had price increases January 1st.
obladi
Here is the average annual GDP growth rate for a selection of countries between 2000 and 2021:
United States: 2.1%
Germany: 1.4%
Singapore: 5.1%
United Kingdom: 1.7%
France: 1.4%
China: 9.5%
Japan: 1.0%
Although the GDP has risen 1%, I don't really think we can say that Japan's economic growth is on par with other countries.
fxgai
I think his policy idea is completely wrong, and given that it hasn’t worked for years like this, isn’t it time to recognize that and try something different?
Wages are fundamentally set by the supply and demand for workers. That wages don’t rise in Japan suggests that the demand is not very strong, or the supply of workers is high.
Why would the demand for workers not be strong in Japan?
Japan needs to try some alternative economic theories, not failed ones with a fancy New name.
dan
Oh look more urges!!! What a joke!!
nakanoguy01
Politicians in most democracies get voted out for not keeping their promises. But not here in status quo Japan. It's as though elections DON'T have any consequences. Smgdfh...
dagon
Yes socialism so the LDP needs to beat it and let Reiwa in.
That paradigm is long gone since capital could accumulate enough to subvert democratic institutions, destroy labor union power and ensure profits are privatized, losses are socialized.
https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/
JeffLee
Policy-wise, this isn't rocket science. If corporates refuse to give wage hikes in line with their earnings growth, then rescind the recent corporate tax cut and take other tax policies to achieve the balance.
Actions speak way louder than words.
dagon
If nations like Japan that purport to be democracies were not instead corporate captured oligarchies that would be the response to the will of the people.
The LDP's job is to distract and deflect the will of the people while it enriches the Japan Inc. masters with its policies.
Don't even call it New Capitalism, it is end stage socialism for the rich.
Martimurano
Kishida sure looks like he means business..... you have to admire his new Chief of Security marching along there, with a bucket on his head, some smart clogs on and carrying a very large shoe-horn. Can't see anyone messing with him.
oyatoi
They’re going for 60, when the 還暦 clock resets.
yokohamarides
The only way is pressure from below. Strong unions and strike actions if necessary.
I heard many eikawa instructors won’t be submitting schedules to work the 15th of any month until wages are increased. Seems like a good idea. Pay is so low they have nothing to lose.
hampton
If he is pledging wage growth, how about he raise the minimum wage? No, thought not.
Lindsay
Is it Groundhog Day? The LDP have been saying the same thing for over a decade. Meanwhile, they give corporations tax cuts and increase taxes for Naoki Average.
JoshK
You would think the past 2.5 years would make it clear as day that just giving everyone more money doesn't work. Both productivity and wages must rise together; just raising wages alone results in mass inflation, as demand exceeds supply.
Japan's problem is that their people are now competing with a much stronger US, Korea and other nations. Korea dominates many of the high-margin industries that Japan used to lead in such as memory, NAND, and displays. The US is regaining ground in the automotive sector with the rise of EVs, which Japan has been slow to adopt. Check out Toyota's BZ4X quality control disaster with wheels flying off and its glacial charging speeds. The Dutch beat the Japan to EUV and Japan lost out. Taiwan beat Japan in logic node fabbing.
In every high-margin industry, Japan is getting destroyed. It's easy to be on top when your only competition was the US in the 1950s-1990s who was going easy on you.
Sven Asai
Doesn’t make sense. If many many millions of people urge income growth and don’t succeed, how can this single one man ever succeed then?
kaimycahl
The problems lie here!!!As Kishida said "For the past 30 years, wages have not grown although corporate profits have risen," With that said you can't place the blame on this PM there were others that came before him and nothing has changed. The problem is what he identified and that is where the hardliners need to stage protest against. The large corporations have benefited not the people. The PM made promised to their constituents and the people only to be bought out by the large corporations to do nothing with wage growth. I am amazed at how the Chinese came together and fought back against a dictator who had them on lock down against covid. Once he saw the power of the people the government caved in. This is communist China. If the Japanese people can have that same mindset and do as the chinese did in that case of not going to work and stage a protest to not go to work until wages get better I am sure those large corporations and the government will make a move for the people. Nothing is going to happen until the Japanese have such a mindset or form unions to act in the interest of the people to fight for better wages and benefits against the large corporations, that would put more pressure on the government to do its job the act in the interest of the people and not the corporations who rake in the large profits..
proxy
If Kishida can achieve some wage growth, he will be the most successful PM in 40 years.
Mark
Japan NEEEDS MORE HONEST LABOR UNIONS that fights for the benefits of the laborers and not themselves.
Mark
Employers can only pay so much in wages after paying their TAXES which sucks up to 30% of their profits.
dagon
Has not been the case for decades in most developed countries as neo-liberal policies were implemented.
The fact is productivity has sharply risen as wages have stagnated or fallen. As I previously posted.
Corporations have hoarded the productivity gains like Smaug and impoverished workers.
https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/
Eastmann
talk is cheap.
ThonTaddeo
About the only thing that is, these days!
James
Is he still on about his Urgenomics. Has he not realized that nobody is paying (attention) any more
jeancolmar
Well, it is time to say something nice about Kishida. From the above: "Speaking at a press conference after visiting the Ise Jingu shrine in Mie Prefecture, Kishida said: "For the past 30 years, wages have not grown although corporate profits have risen..." In short, the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poor. And contrary to the song from the 1920s the Japanese are not having children.
I have no idea what Kishida is going to do about the economic disparity in Japan. But least he said what he said.
hidflect1
@dagon You nailed it. DOn't know why you got downvoted.