News On Japan

Survey Reveals Wage Gains Not Matching Inflation

TOKYO - A recent study by the Rengo Research Institute, which focuses on labor issues, has revealed that only a little over 6% of workers report their wage increases have exceeded the rate of inflation.

Survey Reveals Wage Gains Not Matching Inflation

The study surveyed 2,000 workers in the Greater Tokyo and Kansai areas.

Only 6.6% of respondents stated that their wage increase over the past year was greater than the rise in prices, while 60% reported that their wage increase was smaller.

This highlights the issue that, despite significant wage increases negotiated in recent spring wage negotiations, these have not kept pace with the cost of living increases.

Additionally, 50% of male respondents and 60% of female respondents noted that prices have "risen considerably" compared to the previous year.

Furthermore, 41.3% of respondents feel a labor shortage at their workplaces, with the number rising to over half (50.5%) in the construction industry.

Source: ANN

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Typhoon No. 30 remained extremely powerful at 6 a.m. on October 22 and is expected to turn northwest toward Okinawa's Sakishima Islands, bringing violent winds and torrential rain, while a weather front combined with the typhoon could deliver up to 300 millimeters of rainfall across western and eastern Japan through the weekend.

A growing wave of cyberattacks across Japan has raised concerns over the possible use of Chinese-developed artificial intelligence in hacking operations, with personal information belonging to tens of thousands of police employees potentially exposed and major companies forced to suspend online services, while cybersecurity experts warn that slow decision-making within Japanese organizations is allowing damage to spread.

Japan's H3 rocket successfully launched the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on the morning of October 20th, placing the probe into its planned orbit in the first stage of a mission to collect samples from one of Mars' moons and return them to Earth.

Motorcycle owners across Japan can now choose their preferred license plate numbers under a new system introduced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on October 19th, with popular numbers allocated by lottery and applications costing between 2,500 and 3,000 yen.

Nearly one in three large companies in Japan have experienced a data leak or a suspected breach, according to a survey released by Teikoku Databank on October 19th, highlighting growing concerns over corporate information security as unauthorized access incidents continue to affect businesses across the country.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

A wave of copper thefts has struck public facilities across Japan, with thieves stripping metal from bridges, park shelters and shrines, including a park known as a popular anime pilgrimage site, while police in Nagano Prefecture have made arrests following a series of similar incidents.

Police in Kochi Prefecture have released footage of a group of teenagers riding motorcycles recklessly through Kochi City on January 1st, 2026, in a New Year's Day incident known as a "first sunrise motorcycle rampage," with 18 people aged between 15 and 19 arrested or referred to prosecutors for suspected violations of the Road Traffic Act.

Empress Emerita Michiko celebrated her 92nd birthday on October 20th, receiving birthday greetings from Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and other members of Japan's imperial family at her residence in Tokyo, as concerns grow over her declining physical strength and signs of fatigue.

The deputy mayor of Saijo City in Ehime Prefecture died after being crushed beneath a festival float weighing approximately 3 tons while participating in a traditional autumn festival on October 17.

Princess Aiko, the only daughter of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, arrived in Tottori Prefecture on October 19 for her first visit to the region, where she is scheduled to attend a national disaster prevention conference and a symposium on disaster preparedness.

Police in Gunma Prefecture rearrested a 30-year-old man on October 18 on suspicion of murdering his former mother-in-law at her home in Ota City last month, following an attack that also left the woman's eldest son injured.

A 22-year-old woman was killed late on October 17 after a truck rear-ended a car that had stopped following a collision with a deer on the Shin-Tomei Expressway in Shinshiro, Aichi Prefecture.

Three people, including a former chief priest, have been arrested over the alleged takeover of a historic Buddhist temple in central Kyoto, with investigators suspecting they sold temple-owned land and buildings without authorization for approximately 226 million yen, leaving the 300-year-old institution with almost none of its property beyond its main hall and grounds.