TOKYO: The Japanese government on Friday called for a rise of at least 3 pct in country’s minimum wages in fiscal 2021.

The government will aim to increase minimum hourly wages to 1,000 yen on average as soon as possible.

Through the hike, the government hopes to put the Japanese economy, which was hit hard by the novel coronavirus epidemic, back onto a growth path.

In a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, a private-sector member proposed that the government should aim to raise average minimum wages to 1,000 yen as soon as possible, as such wages were being hiked regularly until the epidemic.

Japan’s minimum wages grew by 3 pct or more for four consecutive years until fiscal 2019.

The average minimum wages in fiscal 2020, however, rose by just one yen from the previous year to 902 yen, due to the spread of the coronavirus.

The member stressed that it is crucial for the country to recover the momentum for raising wages this fiscal year.

Every summer, the Central Minimum Wages Council, an advisory panel to the labor minister, presents recommended minimum wage hikes for Japan’s 47 prefectures. Prefectural wage councils then take the recommendations and decide their minimum wages.

Tokyo had the highest minimum wage, at 1,013 yen, while Akita, Tottori, Shimane, Kochi, Saga, Oita and Okinawa prefectures had the lowest minimum wage, at 792 yen.

The private-sector member said that the government should work on closing the wage gaps between areas in order to create a flow of people leaving urban areas for rural areas.

The member also showed data that Japan’s minimum hourly wages are lower than those of other major countries, with such wages standing at 1,302 yen in Britain and France, and 1,060 yen in the United States.

JIJI Press