TOKYO, July 25 (Xinhua) -- A Japanese government panel has agreed to raise the country's minimum hourly wage by 50 yen (about 32 U.S. cents) for fiscal 2024, the sharpest hike ever, as many workers feel the pinch of rising costs of living, local media reported.
The hike, proposed Wednesday by the labor ministry's Central Minimum Wages Council, will bring the average hourly pay to a record 1,054 yen, up 5.0 percent from the current 1,004 yen, Jiji Press reported.
Based on the proposal, the minimum hourly wages are expected to reach or exceed 1,000 yen in eight more of Japan's 47 prefectures, including Hokkaido and Shizuoka, bringing the number of prefectures with minimum wages at or above 1,000 yen to 16, the report said.
The average minimum hourly wage rose 43 yen to 1,004 yen in fiscal 2023, crossing the 1,000 yen mark for the first time. The Japanese government has said it aims to bring the figure up to 1,500 yen by the mid-2030s. ■
