Around 93 percent of Japanese companies were compelled to raise wages for their employees in 2022 to prevent them from moving to better-paying jobs amid labor shortages, a government-affiliated think tank said Saturday.
The results of the survey, conducted by the Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training, come as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government is crafting a new economic stimulus package aimed at easing the negative impact of price hikes amid insufficient wage growth.
The think tank said about 68 percent of respondents implemented wage increases in a bid to improve the motivation of workers and enhance their benefits, while around 42 percent of the firms answered that salary raises were necessary to address staff shortages.
Among companies that did not boost wages, 70 percent of them attributed their decision to business sluggishness, the think tank said, adding that some of them suffered an economic slump amid the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020.
The survey, which was carried out for two months through February 2023, targeted 10,000 firms with over 30 employees and received valid responses from 2,530 companies.
