Japan starts fiscal 2025 minimum wage talks
Currently, the country's average minimum hourly wage is ¥1,055, following a record increase of ¥51, or 2.1%, in fiscal 2024. Amid rising prices, particularly for food, a focal point is whether a higher increase to the minimum wage will be realized.
The fiscal 2025 guidelines are expected to be released around the end of this month, and each prefecture will implement its new minimum wage around October.
The advisory panel is expected to hold discussions based on a range of data, including consumer prices. In May, the broader consumer price index rose 4% from a year earlier, with food prices surging over 6%.
Meanwhile, the national average minimum wage needs to rise 7.3% each year to reach the government's target of ¥1,500 by the end of the 2020s.
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