Toyota to raise monthly wages by over 1,300 yen in coming year: media

TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (T:) is set to raise base monthly salaries by more than 1,300 yen ($12.18) for the year beginning April, local media reported, which would mark the fifth straight year the automaker lifted workers’ pay.

However, the increase is less than the 3,000 yen demanded by its union. Toyota, considered a bellwether in the country’s annual wage negotiations, will announce the figures later on Wednesday.

A Toyota spokeswoman declined to say by how much the automaker planned to raise workers’ monthly pay, but added it was considering raising wages and other benefits, such as family allowances, so that all unionized workers would on average get a 3.3 percent — or 11,700 yen — boost in monthly payment.

Big Japanese companies will announce annual wage hikes on Wednesday, and while workers will probably get more than last year’s 2 percent, and possibly the most in years, they will likely fall short of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s goal of a 3 percent hike.

The results of the “shunto” spring wage negotiations between corporate managements and unions, announced by the big automobile and electronics companies, will set the tone for wage hikes across the nation and could provide hints about future consumer spending.

Abe has been campaigning for a 3 percent gain to spur consumption and banish the deflation that has dogged Japan’s economy for nearly two decades. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has also urged a 3 percent raise to nudge up inflation to the BOJ’s long elusive 2 percent target.

($1 = 106.7000 yen

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