A government advisory panel on Tuesday decided increases in hourly minimum wages this fiscal year should range from 1 yen to 18 yen depending on the prefecture.
Under the proposal, the rise in fiscal 2011 would stand at a national average of 6 yen, a significant drop from 15 yen the previous fiscal year, according to a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry estimate.
The subcommittee of the Central Minimum Wages Council, an advisory panel to the labor minister, concluded that it would be difficult to greatly increase minimum wages because a number of companies, especially in eastern Japan, have been seriously affected by the March 11 disaster, which has been compounded by restrictions placed on electricity usage this summer.
If wages are raised within the panel's proposed range, the national average hourly minimum wage is estimated at 736 yen.
For the disaster-hit Tohoku prefectures, the average hourly minimum wage is likely to rise from 644 yen to 645 yen in Iwate, with Miyagi and Fukushima likely to see increases of 1 yen to 675 yen and 658 yen, respectively.
The proposal on the wage increase range is expected to be officially approved by the council Wednesday. Prefectures nationwide will then introduce their new hourly minimum wages in October after local-level discussions on the matter.
One labor union official said, "To help rebuild the lives of workers in the disaster-hit areas, we need to raise minimum wages."
However, it has been difficult for employers to boost wages, with one saying: "The impact [of the disaster] is also serious in areas other than the Tohoku region. Companies don't have the capability of significantly increasing wages."
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Working poor on the increase
With the national average minimum wage estimated to fall by 9 yen this fiscal year, the panel's proposal will weigh on laborers such as part-time workers whose wages are already at minimum levels.
Since fiscal 2007, the national average hourly minimum wage has risen by more than 10 yen per year. The revised Minimum Wages Law, which took effect in 2008 to prevent workers from receiving minimum wages that would put them within earnings levels requiring welfare support, was a major factor in the increases. In June last year, the government and representatives of labor unions also reached an agreement to try to establish the national average minimum wage at 800 yen as early as possible.
However, the March disaster has changed the landscape of the nation's labor situation.
In the Tohoku prefectures that were hit hard by the disaster, many companies are struggling to even maintain their current employees.
Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures saw their minimum wages rise about 12 yen to 13 yen in fiscal 2010, but they are expected to see a mere 1 yen increase in the current fiscal year.
The number of so-called working poor--laborers who earn less than 2 million yen a year--has exceeded 10 million. Among minimum wage earners nationwide, only those in Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima would be able to avoid living under the levels that require public welfare assistance, if the advisory panel's proposal is implemented.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T110726006066.htm
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