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| Participants call for a hike in Japan's hourly minimum wage to 1,500 yen ($13.7) at a rally held by trade union groups on July 13, 2021, in Tokyo. (Photo by= Kyodo) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] TOKYO - Nearly 10 percent of Japanese firms said they will hire more regular workers, over three times as many as those that will slash them, to cope with upcoming sharp hikes across the country in the minimum wage, a recent survey by a credit research company showed, Kyodo reported.
The survey by Tokyo Shoko Research apparently reflected that more employers are judging it better to shift their labor force to non fixed-term regular workers, given that it would be more costly for them to employ fixed-term, hourly-paid non regular staff. The online survey found that 914, or 9.8 percent, of 9,278 firms responding said they will hire more regular staff, while 287, or 3.0 percent, will reduce such workers, when asked about the impact of the wage floor rise scheduled for October.
Meanwhile, 7,745, or 83.4 percent, said the minimum pay increase will not affect their employment strategy, according to the survey conducted from Aug. 2 to 11. The trend was more notable among big companies, as the percentage in large-firms was 89.7 percent, compared to 82.3 percent in small and medium-sized businesses. Japan's minimum wage ranks fifth among the Group of Seven industrialized nations except for Italy which has no legal minimum wage.
