Tokyo, Dec 23 (Agency) Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday called for wage hikes ahead of the annual labour-management negotiations early next year, in accordance with his policy goal of wealth distribution, local media reported. “To distribute (wealth) by raising wages is to invest in the future,” Kishida said in a meeting of Keidanren, formally known as the Japan Business Federation.
The PM, who took office in October, promised to build a strong middle class in his new form of capitalism and saw accelerating wage growth as holding the key. He has been calling for a pay hike of more than 3 percent by companies whose earnings have recovered to pre-pandemic levels. However, Japan’s largest business lobby has no plan to seek wage hikes across the board or set a numerical target for member companies. Companies have experienced uneven recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic fallout. Manufacturers have recovered faster than non-manufacturers, especially service providers hit by anti-virus measures.