In the preliminary results of the “Monthly Labour Survey” for January (covering businesses with five or more employees), high inflation led to a 1.8% decline in real wages compared to the same month last year, marking the first negative growth in three months. In December, real wages saw a positive turn due to increased bonuses, highlighting the importance of wage hikes able to keep up with inflation.

On March 12, the peak day for spring wage negotiation responses, 50 out of 53 unions affiliated with the Japan Council of Metalworkers’ Unions (JCM) received responses to their wage hike demands. The average wage increase amounted to 14,566 yen, maintaining a high level similar to last year. Among major unions, in the electronics sector, Hitachi and NEC fully met the unions’ unified base pay raise request of 17,000 yen, while Mitsubishi Electric responded with 15,000 yen—exceeding last year’s 13,000 yen.

In the automobile sector, Toyota responded with a full acceptance of both base pay raises and bonuses. JFE Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries also fully met their unions’ demands.

Among materials manufacturers, Mitsubishi Chemical offered a base pay increase of 18,415 yen (a 4.8% wage hike rate), surpassing the union’s request of 15,346 yen (4%).

In the retail sector, according to a survey by UA Zensen, base pay raises averaged 4.35% for full-time employees, with additional regular wage increases. For part-time employees, who do not receive regular raises, the wage hike rate was 5.67%.

On March 14, RENGO (Japanese Trade Union Confederation) announced the first round of results for the 2025 spring wage negotiations. The average wage increase rate, including both base pay raises and regular wage hikes, was 5.46% (based on responses from 760 unions, weighted average), up 0.18 percentage points from the same period last year. In particular, small and medium-sized unions with fewer than 300 members (351 unions) saw an increase of 0.67 percentage points, reaching 5.09%—the first time in 33 years since 1992 that the rate has exceeded 5%.

RENGO President Tomoko Yoshino stated, “We aim to sustain this wage hike trend over this year, next year, and the following year. While the wage increase for small and medium-sized enterprises has reached a 33-year high, the wage gap with large corporations remains. We will continue to support these efforts until the end, and since securing funding for wage hikes is crucial, we will further strengthen initiatives to promote price pass-through.”

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