More than half of Japan¡¯s companies do not plan to raise base pay in annual wage talks in coming months, a setback for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Keidanren, who have called for wage rises of 3 percent to fuel an economic revival.
In a monthly Reuters Corporate Survey, just less than half said they would raise pay and most in this group said the increase would be similar to last year¡¯s level of about 2 percent.
Abe and Keidanren, the country¡¯s main business lobby, have sought a 3 percent wage rise to encourage consumption and inflation, key elements of the administration¡¯s bid to vanquish deflation. A rise in fourth-quarter GDP reported last week marked Japan¡¯s longest continuous economic expansion since the 1980s, but significant wage rises remain elusive even though the labor market is its tightest in about four decades.
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