Workers and Wage increases; Update July 20, 2024.

 

Only 6% of workers in Japan say wage hike rates larger than price increases: poll

Article Source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240717/p2a/00m/0bu/013000c

Ideas:

The problem is, wage increases are only a one time increase, usually in April, but inflation seems to increase monthly. So even if wage earners might have got a 5% wage increase inflation might have increased monthly, which means inflation most likely, in summary, was more than the 5% percent wage increase.

Part of the problem might go back to the beginning of the 2000's as many companies, back then, didn't give pay increases until maybe 2023.

It must also be remembered, that maybe 70 percent of wage earners in Japan don't work for large name brand companies and work for small and midsize companies, which might not have had a 5% percent increase, but much lower, if any at all.

The respondents in the survey might come from large array of workers in different size companies, and again, small and midsize company workers might not have gotten the same wage increase as large company workers.

Every worker or Japanese household is different and they see pay increases differently according their needs and wants. Some might see the 5% percent, if they got that, as good, while some might see it as not enough that barely covers their monthly expenses, or gives them little or no extra income.

It must be remembered, again, that between April of 2023 and April of 2024, inflation in Japan increased a lot. Even if inflation each month was not that much, if you add up each month, most likely it was more than 5%, which makes the 5% wage increase not so good.

Only 5% of non regular employees said pay increases were larger, which is not that large and not surprising, as maybe many non regular employees might not have gotten a wage increase at all.

But only 7.3% of regular workers said wage increases were enough, which means maybe 86% felt wage increases were not enough compared to increases in inflation.

Most likely those in the 20's and 30's have less financial responsibilities than the older groups and maybe the wage increase gave those in their 20's and 30's more extra income.

And as expected, those in their 50's and 60's with more financial responsibilities felt wage increases were not enough and didn't give them enough extra income compared to price increases.

And yes, as expected, unfortunately, over 70% in the 50's and 60's felt wage increases were not enough to cover the price increases and or didn't increase their extra income.

Yes, the overall wage increases either have not take affect and or Japanese workers, at this time are just sitting on the wage increases and deciding just what to do and maybe many ar still weary of the inflation situation.

For non regular employees its very different story, as they are constantly stressed out by their low wages and or company benefits or a combination of factors.

Yes, some companies might have given good wage increases for non regular workers, but that is not the case with all companies who see non regular workers as just nonessential commodities that can be easily replaced.

The minimum wage situation in Japan, unfortunately like some economies is not so good, as many companies don't want to pay a lot for some workers and they keep the minimum wage low, as companies try to limit their costs.

Have a nice day and be safe!