According to the latest statistics from the Japan Federation of Labor Organizations, the average salary increase rate of 4,938 enterprise unions in Japan this year is 5.08%, and the monthly salary increase is 15,236 yen, a new high in 30 years.
Among them, 3,516 small and medium-sized enterprise unions with fewer than 300 employees have an average salary increase rate of 4.45%, and a monthly salary increase of 11,361 yen, the highest since 2013.
However, due to soaring prices, many people do not have a real sense of rising wages. To this end, the All-Japan Federation of Labors and Welfare has submitted a request to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, hoping to achieve the goal of achieving a nationwide minimum wage of "1,500 yen or more per hour" this year.
In October 2023, Japan significantly raised the national average minimum hourly wage from 961 yen to 1,004 yen, the largest increase in its history of 43 yen.
However, there are only eight local governments in the country that exceed 1,000 yen, and the gap between Tokyo (1,113 yen) and Iwate Prefecture (893 yen), the lowest, is as high as 220 yen.
According to the All-China Federation of Workers' estimates of the cost of living in 27 prefectures, in order to maintain a minimum daily necessities, the hourly wage must be at least 1,500 yen per hour.
In Japan, there are about 28.23 million workers earning less than 1,500 yen per hour, and their living conditions are worrying because they are almost unable to save or get sick or injured after their income is used for daily expenses.
In addition, in order to prevent the loss of local talent, the AFLF also called for the elimination of the minimum wage gap between regions. It is reported that the minimum wage in many countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and South Korea is unified across the country, and generally only countries with a very wide area will widen the gap.
If the minimum hourly wage is unified across Japan, it will also help local governments that are severely understaffed to accept more foreign workers.
At present, many local governments in Japan know that they cannot compete with Tokyo in terms of salary, and they will set up subsidies to attract foreigners.
For example, in fiscal 2024, Kochi Prefecture has implemented a new system that will provide a reward of 300,000 yen per person to Vietnamese or Indian workers who have remained in the prefecture for three years.
Hiroshima Prefecture provides a subsidy of up to 3 million yen to small and medium-sized enterprises that accept foreign nationals under the Specified Skilled Worker No. 1 visa, and asks the company to help them obtain the Specified Skilled Worker No. 2 visa.
Ibaraki Prefecture has allocated 375 million yen to its fiscal 2024 budget for projects related to foreign human resources, including company inspections and internships for international students, promotion of local employment, and support services such as consultation on foreign native languages and Japanese language education.
The prefecture will also cooperate with universities and other universities in India to hold Japanese language courses to promote companies in the prefecture and attract more high-level IT talents to work in Japan.
Since the implementation of the Japanese government's new child-rearing and employment system, foreign workers can change jobs if they meet certain conditions, so local governments must raise wages and provide more benefits if they want to retain human resources.
For us foreigners, if we feel that Tokyo is too stressful, we can also choose some small cities with better conditions to work and live, and life may not be worse than that of big cities!
Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will hold a meeting to discuss the standard of this year's minimum hourly wage increase, and it is expected that an agreement will be reached at the end of July, and the minimum wage will be revised in all prefectures from October.
What is your salary in Japan?