BOJ to launch its own survey on wage hikes

Good move.

If the BOJ is using the results as a reference in determining whether to raise or lower its policy interest rates, those results should reflect all of the nation’s employees, not just 16%.

As I've said many times, whenever we hear about 5% salary increases, that is usually only given out to a few lucky workers who are in included in rengo negotiations. For the vast majority of workers working for small companies or industries, they are not getting the increase, and might even have to take a cut if things like tariffs disrupt the supply chains. This would be a much more accurate reading of pay in Japan.

Why waste money on a survey? We all know the answer. ZERO!!

begin it in 2027 at the earliest

Not much of a sense of urgency to address the low wage issue...

I don’t know anyone getting a higher wage in decades!

It's a very useless discussion within a small luxury bubble. Most people, maybe the majority of population , don't get any wages, like toddlers, school children, seniors and many others, or they are part-timers etc and get only small or minimum wages which are outside of wage hike considerations or too small for being relevant, as 5% or more increase of nearly nothing also results only in nearly nothing after the increase.

If the BOJ is using the results as a reference in determining whether to raise or lower its policy interest rates, those results should reflect all of the nation’s employees, not just 16%. & whenever we hear about 5% salary increases, that is usually only given out to a few lucky workers who are in included in rengo negotiations. For the vast majority of workers working for small companies or industries, they are not getting the increase, and might even have to take a cut if things like tariffs disrupt the supply chains. This would be a much more accurate reading of pay in Japan.

Totally accurate, , both of these posts.

 that is usually only given out to a few lucky workers 

Not really. In Japan, wage trends among the top public companies influence the trends through industry, from big, medium and small.

funny how they raise prices with no studies but when people need to get paid more we have to study it

There are no wages increases, this is just media propaganda. I work in the system for more than 20 years. Actually the companies offers lower salaries nowadays then they used to 10-20 years ago. I know, is incredible to say the least. The o ly increases are the ones the perm workers are receiving yearly, but those are as usual between 1 and 5%,and are no way related to the current state of the Economy.

""To date, the central bank has relied on data released by Rengo, formally known as the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, which surveys pay increases by collecting responses from its member unions.""

This is the core of the problem, this means only union members data is used to decide the rest of the nation Salary status, BAD idea.

Glad the BOJ and the government should have been relying on their own data collections instead of the Union and it's members, glad the BOJ is moving in the right direction.

""According to an estimate by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, only 16.1 percent of employees in Japan were union members in 2024.""

How SAD , so only 16.1% the nations employees data was used and the other 85% were IGNORED!!!

No wage increases for me working at a medium sized firm with a large global network, but I am looking to get a promotion soon hopefully. Lots of unexpected expenses popping up recently so I had to take up sukima baito and work a couple gigs to earn a little extra on the side.

Although part time wages aren't as bad as back when I was in high school, earning hourly wages really does open your eyes when it comes to time and money. Since I am only doing short hours alongside my regular job, I earn about 1,000 yen per hour for 3 hours early in the morning. One little treat like a coffee or snack after work puts my few hours of work into waste. This experience has got me learning how to treat my time and money well. Will be bringing water with me from now on and coffee at home.

Stupid. Why would you need a survey?

Government to worker:

Do you want a higher salary?

Yes. I want to buy a cabbage every now and then. And with my bonus I'll by rice.

Government to Company:

Do you want to pay your worker a fair wage especially since profits are soaring?

No. I want to be selfish. But I will raise prices. That is for sure.

Government to companies

OK. I got it. The government will strongly urge companies to increase pay. But doing nothing but sitting on your profits is also OK.

Do you want to pay your worker a fair wage especially since profits are soaring?

If you notice, the survey is meant to focus on those NOT associated with a union. Those businesses, typically the middle to small companies, operate on razor thin margins, because the larger companies they depend upon to feed them, force them to keep prices down.

Profits are hardly "soaring" for these businesses, and many are going bankrupt!

The government can not force a business to raise wages, no matter how much it seems you think they can.

I also know an SME closing down next week due to lack of business-Japan’s slippery slope is getting steeper…

With the tariff war going on, the Japanese economy would be in worse shape - so there's no reason to hike wages

Is there no tax filing in Japan? The boj uses a survey to see if people are getting raises?

According to one source, Japan’s per capita income is the lowest among the G7 nations. It’s minimum hourly wage is lower than America’s poorest state, which is Mississippi.