Pay Hikes at Major Japan Firms Average 2.46 Pct

Tokyo, April 23 (Jiji Press)--Major Japanese companies have agreed to raise monthly salaries by 2.46 pct, or 8,310 yen, on average so far during this year's "shunto" labor-management negotiations, according to the initial tally by the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, released Tuesday. The average growth topped 2 pct for the sixth consecutive year. Such continuing high growth was last seen between 1994 and 1999. "The momentum and trend of increasing pay is continuing," a Keidanren official said. The 2019 initial survey covered 60 member companies of Keidanren. The federation is scheduled to release its final survey results in June. The construction industry enjoyed the largest rise, at 2.90 pct, followed by the auto industry, at 2.74 pct, and the machinery and metal industry, at 2.64 pct. The construction sector saw its monthly pay rise by 14,822 yen, and the auto sector enjoyed a rise of 9,304 yen. There was a view that big companies would become reluctant to raise pay due to concerns over a slowdown in the global economy stemming from the U.S.-China trade dispute in the 2019 shunto. But Keidanren said it saw no impact of the row between the world's economic giants on the negotiations. The Japanese government pressed businesses to raise pay for the sixth straight year. But it did not mention specific figures this year. For the 2018 shunto, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for a hike of over 3 pct. END