Major Japanese companies raised wages by an average 3.91 percent in this year's spring wage talks, marking the biggest increase in 31 years in the face of repeated calls by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for pay rises to cope with inflation, Japan's biggest business lobby said Friday.
The average wage increase was equivalent to 13,110 yen ($95) per month, up 5,680 yen from the previous year, according to preliminary data from the Japan Business Federation, also known as Keidanren.
The increase was larger than 2.27 percent the year earlier and the sharpest since 1992, when the average wage grew by 4.78 percent.
