Niigata Raises Minimum Wage to ¥1,108, Union Objects — 5ch Asks: “Can You Even Live on That?”

Written by

in

The Niigata Regional Minimum Wage Council has recommended raising the hourly minimum wage by 58 yen to 1,108 yen starting in October, but labor unions including “Echigo Union” have objected, arguing that this “isn’t enough to live a decent, human life.” On 5ch’s News Express+ (Newsplus) thread, opinions clashed between those who called the raise reasonable given rising prices and those worried it would squeeze small and mid-sized businesses, sparking debate over what the minimum wage should actually be.

Regarding Niigata Prefecture’s minimum wage, a labor union has objected to the council’s recommendation to raise it to 1,108 yen, saying “this still makes life a struggle.”

The objection was raised by the labor unions “Echigo Union” and “Rainbow Union.”

On the 5th, the Niigata Regional Minimum Wage Council recommended to the Niigata Labour Bureau that the prefecture’s minimum wage be raised by 58 yen to 1,108 yen, effective October 1.

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here

3Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 09:39:26.70ID:gHnocIlA0
Prices are skyrocketing across the board.
Won't work unless wages rise 5% every year.
87Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:04:44.47ID:Qgdcgem70
>>3
A society where they rise 5% every year — sounds great!
4Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 09:39:39.50ID:7RXr5xsu0
What's the point of these groups that keep demanding the impossible?
6Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 09:41:04.70ID:r8+qJo640
>>4
Trying to bump up welfare payments too? ("namapo" = slang for public welfare assistance)
23Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 09:46:40.51ID:ETnhSlA30
>>4
Given how much prices have risen, ¥1,500 isn't such an unreasonable figure.
An hourly wage of ¥800 15 years ago is worth ¥1,600 today.
17Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 09:44:27.71ID:DGTgsdlT0
Does a 58-yen raise suddenly make life livable?
28Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 09:49:09.97ID:dyZPPIeG0
Half the small businesses out in the regions will go under.
36Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 09:50:27.86ID:6wwG6a7D0
>>28
If they can't raise pay, they'll just have to cut hours so the effective hourly rate clears the minimum.
171Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:21:57.35ID:0QsuKzxv0
>>28
If a company can't pay enough for a full-time worker to actually live on, maybe it deserves to go under.
44Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 09:54:15.48ID:Ry/kSR+v0
It's because people like you work for low wages that I get to live comfortably.
Sorry, but please be society's sacrifice.
47Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 09:54:52.88ID:nXCwDJhG0
>>44
No, seriously —
if we don't raise the floor,
Japan is finished.
54Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 09:57:00.94ID:lthhhTLo0
>>44
Yeah, that's basically it.
My own pay keeps going up, but I want everyone else to stay stuck on low wages.
74Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:01:35.22ID:nlNR+kYs0
>>23
Jobs will disappear.
104Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:07:21.50ID:wXEmeBlZ0
>>74
If jobs vanish over something that small, they weren't worth keeping lol. Good riddance 🥴
122Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:11:30.06ID:ETnhSlA30
>>74
Maybe those are jobs that deserve to disappear.

An hourly wage of ¥800 back in the day equals about ¥1,600 now — it's obvious if you look at the numbers, but nobody brings it up.
Even in discussions about the minimum wage, nobody mentions it.
83Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:04:18.13ID:LOVExUFP0
Raising the minimum wage is fine, but
wages that were already above it aren't rising at all — someone needs to fix that too.
94Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:06:14.97ID:nlNR+kYs0
>>83
Well, that money has to come from somewhere to fund the minimum wage hike, so those other wages will rise even less.
In the end everyone just ends up on minimum wage.
102Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:06:57.53ID:IF9hAHAX0
>>83
Even among full-time employees, new grads and people in their 40s are ending up on almost the same pay.
The Ice Age generation really got screwed. ("Ice Age generation" = those who entered the job market during Japan's 1990s–2000s downturn and got stuck with poor career prospects)
105Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:07:25.11ID:QZ13rDB40
But 20 years ago the hourly wage was like ¥680, right?
112Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:09:06.14ID:3uOIJz0g0
>>105
I worked a restaurant part-time job for that rate back when I was a student.
115Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:10:07.76ID:96kFOCht0
>>105
Wasn't that a bit earlier? lol
Anyway, food service jobs did pay low wages back then.
126Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:12:39.39ID:EMhO3uSw0
Is there even a country where you can live like a human being on minimum wage?
139Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:15:21.89ID:HE0bfC8l0
>>126
The government can just subsidize the shortfall.
That's what taxation as wealth redistribution is supposed to be.
149Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:17:51.44ID:TFrs6j770
>>126
If the minimum wage here were ¥4,000 like in the US or Europe, you could live cheap buying stuff from Japan once it's turned into some trash-tier poor country.

A ¥1,000 bowl of ramen in Japan already feels like about ¥200 to people from overseas.
Just eat the food from Cheap Japan.
182Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:22:56.72ID:a37504eo0
Even on minimum wage, don't these people ever try working hard to get a raise?
196Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:25:12.91ID:Z72Kpyrw0
>>182
Even if you work hard for a raise, it only goes up by like 5-10 yen an hour.
209Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:28:43.01ID:r7PGxKyj0
>>196
People who really work hard are earning the equivalent of ¥5,000 an hour.
Why don't you just work hard enough to get your own wages up?
211Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:29:39.38ID:Z72Kpyrw0
>>209
An hourly rate of ¥5,000 — what big corporation is that? \(^o^)/
212Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:29:56.28ID:rx7CPJ0z0
>>209
Exactly.
There's nothing wrong with paying ¥5,000 an hour to someone who generates ¥10,000 an hour in profit.
199Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:25:50.56ID:rx7CPJ0z0
If the minimum wage were ¥1,500, you'd only be able to hire people expected to generate at least ¥3,000 an hour in profit.
208Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:28:20.95ID:J+ub816P0
>>199
Employers made the same threats when it went from ¥900 to ¥1,100, and it turned out fine once it actually happened.
¥3,000 might be a stretch, but ¥1,500 is no problem at all.

Any business that collapses over that was a zombie company hooked on slave labor anyway.
221Anonymous2026/08/23(日) 10:32:26.51ID:Bs7iwG+m0
>>199
Apparently if you're not generating 3x your salary in gross profit, you're basically stealing your paycheck.
So at a ¥1,500 minimum wage, you'd need to bring in ¥4,500 an hour just to avoid running a loss.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+/Newsplus) thread “Minimum Wage of ¥1,108 — “This Isn’t Enough to Live a Decent Life”: Labor Union Objects to Niigata Regional Minimum Wage Council’s Recommendation.”

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *