Keidanren to urge firms to raise wages to achieve new capitalism

Jiji Press

December 1, 2021

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, plans to call on member companies with solid earnings to raise wages to help initiate a “new form of capitalism,” a key policy platform of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, informed sources said.

The policy is shown in Keidanren’s management-side draft guidelines for next year’s “shunto” spring wage talks.

The draft guidelines say desirable pay hikes include pay-scale increases.

Keidanren, however, will not seek uniform wage raises, out of consideration for firms performing poorly, the sources said Tuesday.

Kishida, who calls for a positive cycle of growth and distribution, had expressed hope for the economic circle to increase wages by over 3%.

Keidanren in the draft guidelines asks companies to appropriately evaluate employees’ achievements for bonuses and lump-sum payments.

With the novel coronavirus pandemic dragging on, earnings differ greatly between companies and industry sectors.

Against this background, Keidanren will not call on all companies to raise wages, and instead, will encourage firms that are falling behind in business recovery to prioritize preserving jobs.

The federation will uphold the main principle to hold labor-management negotiations on setting wages based on the situation of each individual company.