Japan firms to hike wages by 5.24% this year: reports

The latest tally among Japanese firms is showing they plan to raise wages by 5.24% this year, a 33-year high, according to reports.

A survey from the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, among amid ongoing wage talks across the country finds employers agreed to hike wages by an average of JPY16,037 this year, according to a report from the Jiji Press.

The 5.24% is slightly lower than the 5.25% recorded in the previous survey, and 5.28% registered in the initial tally last month.

However, it remains the highest increase since 1991 when it logged 5.66%, Reuters reported, adding that average growth of pay hikes tend to decline as smaller firms end negotiations.

Wage hike for smaller firms

Among smaller firms, the survey found that they have agreed to hike pay by 4.69% or JPY12,097.

This comes amid "very serious" labour shortages among smaller and mid-size firms, who believe that wage hikes are "necessary to stop the outflow of workers," according to Rengo president Tomoko Yoshino.

"We want to make efforts to sustain this wage hike trend," Yoshino said as quoted by the Jiji Press.

The next survey result is set to be released on April 18, months after the wage negotiations began in late January.