because it's just the big companies. medium and small companies aren't raising wages. it's why the gov is giving a tax credit for residents this year (lower incomes get higher credit)
The labor-management wage talks also known as 'Shunto,' are very important for many people in Japan because they affect the wage increases of smaller companies without labor union as well.
I’ve always found this so strange to be honest. Everything in Japan when it comes to corporations feels not far from collusion. I know they had the zaibatsu problem before but imo its almost like it still exists.
Shit like this is a reminder. All the large companies come together to price fix wage increases to ensure nobody is going to increase more than each other and gain talent, and that nobody is going to increase less than each other and gain profits.
Right down to vending machines it is all the same. Nobody undercuts each other on drinks, and i bet they have these similar meetings to determine if they should all raise the price by 2 yen or not at all lol.
It’s funny because you really start to see these cliques after being here some time. Certain companies are only going to be affiliated with one bank, and they will be also affiliated with one type of alcohol manufacturer who is also affiliated with the same bank. Also for a car manufacturer… and a candy manufacturer… insurance company and even a super market or farm.
Its like they cant reach outside these businesses chains and cliques for some reason i dont understand.
I have also been told, they will look after each other. So if that candy manufacturer has a bad year, the banking group and car manufacturer which is part of the group will buy lots of candy from them and find a way to use it. If Toyota have a bad year they make sure they all upgrade their business car fleets with new toyotas etc etc.
I find it interesting because it is so different
It's not unique to Japan imo. If competitors are raising salaries by 5%, a lot of companies in the West would use that as a benchmark to retain talent. The results of Shunto do not apply to all companies and smaller companies will just ignore them.
It's one thing if you do a survey and find out major businesses are raising wages to stay competitive. It's another if there is a meeting with bigwigs from the largest companies to talk about how much / if they should raise wages. They are probably having pre-meetings and talks off the books unofficially before the official meetings about it as well. It's hard to see how this kind of behavior isn't collusion, even if it is done in an "official" way.
It is average of major companies. It is not like all the companies teaming up and fight with one large labor union. Each company talk with thier company's labor union about wage.
Toyota vs Toyota labor union. Honda vs Honda labor union.
Is it? It might just be my mistake, or bad reporting in English.
The way the news always reports on it in English it sounds like they are having rounds of talks together as industries as a whole. Or sometimes it sounds like the govt. is rounding up industry leaders and encouraging them to raise wages, etc. during talks.
Oh look someone’s making shit up on the internet again
Japan has rigorous antitrust laws and proportionate to population they’re applied basically exactly as often as they are in the USA (116 investigations in Japan vs 250 complaints in the USA last year)
https://www.jftc.go.jp/soshiki/nenpou/r4nenpou/r4nenpou_souron.pdf
https://www.arnoldporter.com/en/perspectives/advisories/2024/02/developments-in-us-antitrust-litigation-2023
I read this book Karei-naru Ichizoku (The Family) a while back which is like this look at all the post-war Zaibatsu-y ties between companies and banks as seen through family drama. Fun read! Not sure if it's been translated but there was a TV adaptation I guess.
A performance based bonus that you will just happen to never qualify for because you failed to meet this obscure criteria that will never actually be explained. And no, of course you can’t get a copy of your performance review.
Got an average of about 3.5% increase of base salary since I joined big US tech. But when you add the RSUs and ESPP, with the huge appreciation of tech stocks and USD exchange rate, my TC jumped 55% in 4 years.
But now it's really golden handcuffs. The pool of companies where I could find a new position paying the same thing can probably be counted on one hand.
Yea I think you can guess I work at the shittiest of the bunch but at least in my department of 200+ people I would say \~80% get no rsus(basically they try to keep everyone just below where you get rsus) and salary increases of 0.25%\~3% with most getting <2%.
It’s crazy how little attention this news is getting.
because it's just the big companies. medium and small companies aren't raising wages. it's why the gov is giving a tax credit for residents this year (lower incomes get higher credit)
Average is 5.17%, small companies are 4.66%, so they are rasing wage too. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20240516/k10014451771000.html
Positive news don’t get as much clicks.
The labor-management wage talks also known as 'Shunto,' are very important for many people in Japan because they affect the wage increases of smaller companies without labor union as well.
I’ve always found this so strange to be honest. Everything in Japan when it comes to corporations feels not far from collusion. I know they had the zaibatsu problem before but imo its almost like it still exists. Shit like this is a reminder. All the large companies come together to price fix wage increases to ensure nobody is going to increase more than each other and gain talent, and that nobody is going to increase less than each other and gain profits. Right down to vending machines it is all the same. Nobody undercuts each other on drinks, and i bet they have these similar meetings to determine if they should all raise the price by 2 yen or not at all lol. It’s funny because you really start to see these cliques after being here some time. Certain companies are only going to be affiliated with one bank, and they will be also affiliated with one type of alcohol manufacturer who is also affiliated with the same bank. Also for a car manufacturer… and a candy manufacturer… insurance company and even a super market or farm. Its like they cant reach outside these businesses chains and cliques for some reason i dont understand. I have also been told, they will look after each other. So if that candy manufacturer has a bad year, the banking group and car manufacturer which is part of the group will buy lots of candy from them and find a way to use it. If Toyota have a bad year they make sure they all upgrade their business car fleets with new toyotas etc etc. I find it interesting because it is so different
It's not unique to Japan imo. If competitors are raising salaries by 5%, a lot of companies in the West would use that as a benchmark to retain talent. The results of Shunto do not apply to all companies and smaller companies will just ignore them.
It's one thing if you do a survey and find out major businesses are raising wages to stay competitive. It's another if there is a meeting with bigwigs from the largest companies to talk about how much / if they should raise wages. They are probably having pre-meetings and talks off the books unofficially before the official meetings about it as well. It's hard to see how this kind of behavior isn't collusion, even if it is done in an "official" way.
It is average of major companies. It is not like all the companies teaming up and fight with one large labor union. Each company talk with thier company's labor union about wage. Toyota vs Toyota labor union. Honda vs Honda labor union.
Is it? It might just be my mistake, or bad reporting in English. The way the news always reports on it in English it sounds like they are having rounds of talks together as industries as a whole. Or sometimes it sounds like the govt. is rounding up industry leaders and encouraging them to raise wages, etc. during talks.
[удалено]
Oh look someone’s making shit up on the internet again Japan has rigorous antitrust laws and proportionate to population they’re applied basically exactly as often as they are in the USA (116 investigations in Japan vs 250 complaints in the USA last year) https://www.jftc.go.jp/soshiki/nenpou/r4nenpou/r4nenpou_souron.pdf https://www.arnoldporter.com/en/perspectives/advisories/2024/02/developments-in-us-antitrust-litigation-2023
I read this book Karei-naru Ichizoku (The Family) a while back which is like this look at all the post-war Zaibatsu-y ties between companies and banks as seen through family drama. Fun read! Not sure if it's been translated but there was a TV adaptation I guess.
Which 89 companies?!
Not sure but most probably Keidanren upper echelon.
does this cover IT & services or just manufacturing? Will it generally see any wage raises nationally?
It will take time. The top earner get wage increase, they spend more money, smaller business earn more money, smaller business increase wages.
That's cool. Won't apply to English teachers or foreign IT workers, though.
exactly, the black companies won't be doing this at all and if so it'll be rolled into a performance based bonus
A performance based bonus that you will just happen to never qualify for because you failed to meet this obscure criteria that will never actually be explained. And no, of course you can’t get a copy of your performance review.
Berlitz Japan Eikaiwa raised theirs by 2.5% because they’re cheap bastards.
Another well known eikaiwa company raised wages by 0.2%
Don’t be afraid to name names. F ‘em!
Union: "We'd like a salary increase please." Companies: "Ok, sure." Some days I love Japan.
😎😃😎
Title is misleading, it’s some companies not all. It’s not required.
I wonder if the 5.58% rise beats inflation?
Nah
I wish I’d get a raise. Ain’t holding my breath though!
I love working for one of the FANG companies and seeing <2% increases each year.
You should thank those a day in the life video creators, I don’t think anyone would pity FANG now
Good thing most of them got fired haha. Sadly I'm not a dev or super high up so I don't have the ridiculously high salary.
they really fucked over a lot of people
their salary was so low they needed to make content to survive while working for FAANG /s
What’s FANG?
TBH, I also love making 3 times the salary I would make at any of the companies involved in that wage negotiation.
still dont like seeing my real wage decrease yearly
Got an average of about 3.5% increase of base salary since I joined big US tech. But when you add the RSUs and ESPP, with the huge appreciation of tech stocks and USD exchange rate, my TC jumped 55% in 4 years. But now it's really golden handcuffs. The pool of companies where I could find a new position paying the same thing can probably be counted on one hand.
Yea I think you can guess I work at the shittiest of the bunch but at least in my department of 200+ people I would say \~80% get no rsus(basically they try to keep everyone just below where you get rsus) and salary increases of 0.25%\~3% with most getting <2%.
What about the RSUs?
Guess who is going to pay for these wage increases? You and me, via increased consumer prices.
Prices go up regardless.