TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister ISHIBA Shigeru said Tuesday that his government will draw up measures by next spring to help raise the country’s minimum wages.

Ishiba made the pledge as government, labor and business leaders met to discuss minimum wages and “shunto” annual labor-management wage talks next spring, the first such meeting since he took office last month.

He gives priority to raising the country’s average hourly minimum wages to 1,500 yen in the 2020s.

In the 2025 shunto talks, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, plans to demand a wage increase of 5 percent or over.

The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, is expected to release employers’ guidelines for the talks early next year.

Participants to Tuesday’s meeting included Rengo President Tomoko Yoshino and Keidanren Chairman Masakazu Tokura in addition to Ishiba.