Spring labor battle: Today is the day for intensive responses; major companies are making early settlements one after another with high wage increases

The 13th is the intensive response day for this year's Spring Labor.

There has been a series of moves among major companies to settle on high wage increases before the 13th, and the focus will be on whether these moves will spread to small and medium-sized enterprises as well, in order to create a virtuous cycle for the Japanese economy.

The 13th will be the day for intensive responses from management in this year's spring labor union, but there are a number of major companies that are moving to settle the issue early with higher wage increases than last year, without waiting for the 13th.

Among these, in the automobile industry,

▽Honda responded in full with the largest monthly wage increase since 1989 of 20,000 yen, and

▽Mazda responded with the largest monthly wage increase of 16,000 yen since 2003 in the first labor-management negotiations. I answered in full.

In the restaurant industry,

Zensho Holdings, which operates a gyudon chain, agreed to raise wages by 12.2%, the highest ever, and

Mos Food Service decided to raise wages by an average of about 8%, including the first base increase.

In the airline industry,

All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines both responded that they would increase their bases to the highest level for the first time in 33 years.

According to a survey conducted by the Japan Center for Economic Research among 38 private sector economists, the average predicted wage increase rate during the spring labor union, including small and medium-sized enterprises, was 3.88%, the highest level in 30 years. There are also predictions that it will exceed last year's figure.

In order to create a virtuous cycle in Japan's economy due to increased consumption through higher wages, the focus will be on whether the move to raise wages at a high level will spread to small and medium-sized enterprises, where labor-management negotiations will begin in earnest.

The main focus is on whether the high level of wage increases will spread to small and medium-sized enterprises, etc.

This year's spring labor union will be a major turning point in determining whether Japan's economy can completely break free from deflation and move toward realizing a virtuous cycle in which wages and prices rise stably.

The focus of this year's spring labor union is whether the Japanese economy can continue last year's momentum, which saw the highest rate of wage increase in nearly 30 years against a backdrop of record price increases.

So far, there has been a series of moves among major companies to settle early on higher wage increases than last year.

In order for the Japanese economy to completely break away from deflation and shift to a virtuous cycle, it is necessary to widely realize wage increases and lead to increased consumption.

However, so far, government statistics show that real wages continue to be negative and personal consumption is sluggish.

Against this backdrop, the main focus of this year's spring labor wage campaign will be whether the movement to raise wages at a high level, which is gaining momentum among major companies, will spread to small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Bank of Japan is also closely monitoring trends in wage increases as a basis for deciding whether to change its large-scale monetary easing measures, and this year's spring labor union will be a major milestone in determining whether progress can be made toward realizing a virtuous economic cycle.