Jan. 2017
Corporate Attitudes toward Wage Trends in FY2017
Record high 51.2% of companies anticipate wage improvement
— Employees' salaries and bonuses in FY 2017 are estimated to increase by approximately 3.5 trillion yen through an improvement effect. —
Introduction
The economy in 2017 is difficult to forecast with a decrease in the number of companies, considering the economy in 2017 will "worsen" and "be in a lull" since last year and a record high rate of those that answered "do not know" (in the “Corporate Attitudes toward Economic Outlook for 2017"). On the other hand, the government is demanding wage increases through public-private dialogues, etc. Therefore, attention has focused on the trends for wage improvement, such as across-the-board pay and bonus pay (lump-sum pay) increases, along with securing employment as elements that determine the success or failure of Abenomics.
Under such circumstances, Teikoku Databank conducted a survey on corporate attitudes toward wage trends in FY 2017. This survey was conducted in conjunction with the January 2017 TDB Trends Research.
*Survey period: January 18, 2017 - January 31, 2017; Companies Surveyed: 23,796; Valid Responses: 10,195 (Response Rate: 42.8%). The survey on wages has been conducted in January every year since January 2006, and this is the 12th survey.
*Details of this survey can be found on the dedicated Economic Trend Survey HP. (http://www.tdb-di.com).
*Wage improvement is an improvement (increase) in wages by across-the-board pay and bonus pay increases, and does not include annual pay raises.
Primary points of survey results(summary)
- 1 51.2% of the companies anticipate wage improvement in FY 2017, an increase of 4.9% points from the previous survey (of forecast for 2016, conducted in January 2016). It is the first time it has exceeded 50% since the start of the survey, and it is a record-high.
- 2 Details for wage improvement are an across-the-board pay increase, 40.3% (an increase of 4.8% points over last year), and bonus pay (lump-sum pay), 28.8% (an increase of 2.8% points over last year). Both across-the-board pay and bonus pay increases marked record-highs.
- 3 With respect to the reasons for improving wages, "securing and retention of the labor force'" was at a record-high of 76.2%, an increase for three consecutive years. "Wage trends of other companies in the same industry" also showed a record-high, but "expanded performance of one's company" decreased for the fourth consecutive year. With respect to the reasons for not improving, "sluggish performance of one's company" was at 60.0%, but on the decline, yet it remained in the 60% range for the third consecutive year. "Wage trends of other companies in the same industry" exceeded 20% for two consecutive years, and companies that watch the trends of other companies have increased.
- 4 The total labor cost for FY 2017 is expected to increase 2.61% on average. Employees’ salaries and bonuses are estimated to increase by approximately 3.5 trillion yen, compared to last year.