TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Wednesday that his administration will work on wage growth as a top priority.

“There were strong calls for wage increases in this general election,” Ishiba pointed out at a meeting of the government’s Council of New Form of Capitalism Realization on the day.

At the meeting, the government indicated that it will hold talks among government, labor and management representatives to discuss a goal of raising the country’s average minimum wage to 1,500 yen by the end of the 2020s.

But Masakazu Tokura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, said after the meeting that some people would end up on the streets and business operators would struggle if “something too rough” is done. “It is important for the government, labor and management to discuss well and set a challenging target,” Tokura added.

The target of raising the average minimum wage to 1,500 yen during this decade “seems too fast from our perspective,” said Ken Kobayashi, head of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Meanwhile, the council decided at the day’s meeting that a comprehensive economic policy package to be drawn up by the Ishiba administration will include calls for creating an environment that will allow mid-size and small companies to raise wages and promoting domestic investment that contributes to economic growth.

It was the first meeting of the council since Ishiba took office earlier this month. The council had been working on signature policies of Ishiba’s predecessor, Fumio Kishida.

Among the three pillars of the upcoming policy package, the government plans not to ask the council to discuss measures to tackle rising prices. It plans to give cabinet approval to the package in November.

JIJI Press