An advisory panel of outside experts established by Japan’s biggest union group has published a report calling on the organization to aim for a wage hike of more than 5% in next year’s shunto labor-management negotiations.
The Friday report said that the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, should aim to achieve a wage hike of over 5% for the third consecutive year, stressing that the 2026 shunto will be a crucial opportunity to firmly establish a healthy cycle of rising wages and prices, despite concerns over deteriorating corporate profits due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Since its establishment in June, the advisory panel has discussed measures to maintain wage increases and improve living standards.
The report proposed that Rengo should put weight on future price forecasts over past inflation rates when deciding the levels of pay hike demands and that its wage hike requests should be set at reasonable levels that help alleviate labor shortages.
Also, the report called for setting up a “catch-up clause” stipulating that declines in real wages resulting from higher-than-expected inflation should be covered in the following year’s shunto negotiations.
“Taking the panel’s proposals into account, we will consider how we can establish the wage hike momentum as a social norm,” Rengo President Tomoko Yoshino said at a symposium in Tokyo on Friday.
Rengo is set to launch in-depth discussions on its wage hike demand for the 2026 shunto.
