If we say wage growth is impossible this time because of COVID, then we’ll be totally neglecting our responsibility to the economy. There is a serious concern that Japan could fall back into deflation without pay gains.

And if companies keep losing money how will they pay for wage increases ? How about government lowers taxes on wages and that difference goes to the employees?

Thank goodness for the 3 yen an hour rise for commoners.

It should be remembered that most of the world's economy is generated from the consumption, by the average people, of goods and services.

Their labor and purchasing ability are the engine of it all.

Salaries established individually against the effort and merit ?

Common sense all under the rug.

Priorities first have to be set to start from scratch. Education, innovation, hightech production, worldwide export, massive tax and wages inflow , consumption, in this sequential order. Not the other direction , as it is now done. That won’t work, or let’s say it works by money printing, but not anymore for such a long time. That card house of dreams and easy ways will tumble down into an empty nothing.

Before COVID, Rengo stated that the record profits corporate Japan was raking would not affect their wage requests and demands during the then labor negotiations. I guess they're regretting that now, the naïve dummies.

And if companies keep losing money how will they pay for wage increases?

Corporate Japan engaged in systemic wage suppression when raking in record-high profits. There is no longer a correlation between corporate health and wages, thanks to today's neo-liberal attitudes. They must be forced to pay decent wages regardless of how well they're doing. otherwise, they will always win and the 99 percent will always lose. And then China, run by communists, will step in to dominate the global economy.

Fall back into deflation? It never ended you dolt.

Excuses.

It should be remembered that most of the world's economy is generated from the consumption, by the average people, of goods and services.

Their labor and purchasing ability are the engine of it all.

exactly!

And if companies keep losing money how will they pay for wage increases ? How about government lowers taxes on wages and that difference goes to the employees?

Japan's tax burden meaning government revenues from all sources as a proportion of GDP are the fourth, or some years the third lowest in the developed world. Only Turkey, Mexico and sometimes the US have lower tax burdens and like the US, Japan has a huge national debt due to its habit of under taxing its citizens to pay its bills.

It should be remembered that most of the world's economy is generated from the consumption, by the average people, of goods and services.

On a global scale perhaps but not at the level of individual nations. For a very long time Japan grew its economy on its ability to export. The Japanese plowed much of their income into savings that fueled investment in new production and spent less on consumption. Japan for a long time had the world's highest savings rate and the engine of growth was not domestic consumption but exports. That was also true until quite recently of China. The consumers were in North America and the EU.