According to Persol Career’s “2026 Wage Increase Awareness Survey,” 70% of people want pay raises amid rising prices, and 60% say they are “dissatisfied” with their actual wages.
On a 5ch News Flash+ thread, while some voiced satisfaction after seeing bonuses top ¥1 million, others complained that “the trickle-down never comes,” and the discussion turned to the wage gap between big corporations/civil servants and small businesses, as well as the treatment of non-regular workers.
With food prices climbing one after another and rising energy costs spilling over into gasoline, electricity, and gas bills, the high cost of living is bearing down hard on household budgets. Amid all this, what do workers actually want more — a “pay raise” or “an easier place to work”?
Drawing on the “2026 Wage Increase Awareness Survey” conducted by “Job Research Institute,” run by Persol Career Co., Ltd., we take a look at just how strong the desire for pay raises is amid rising prices, and the reality of dissatisfaction with actual wages.
Amid today’s high prices, 70% hope for a “pay raise”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
My bonus topped ¥1 million, so I'm definitely starting to feel the pay raises kicking in.
>>3
Jealous of people at companies where the benefits actually reach them.
The trickle-down never comes.
Jealous of people at companies where the benefits actually reach them.
The trickle-down never comes.
>>1
The reason real wages at Japan's small and mid-size companies won't rise is that more and more people rely on social welfare (funded by taxes) to live.
When you hand money to people who depend on social welfare — pensioners, welfare recipients — whose income doesn't grow through economic activity, they try to stretch that money by buying the cheapest goods possible.
Trading companies, chasing that demand, import even cheaper substitutes from third countries, and the Japanese market fills up with cheaper and cheaper goods.
Domestic-demand manufacturers, facing rising import costs for raw materials, respond to welfare-dependent demand by squeezing their own employees' wages instead.
For Japan to raise real wages, there's no way around cutting pensions and welfare payments for people under 80, and putting people who are healthy enough to work — but don't — back to work.
The reason real wages at Japan's small and mid-size companies won't rise is that more and more people rely on social welfare (funded by taxes) to live.
When you hand money to people who depend on social welfare — pensioners, welfare recipients — whose income doesn't grow through economic activity, they try to stretch that money by buying the cheapest goods possible.
Trading companies, chasing that demand, import even cheaper substitutes from third countries, and the Japanese market fills up with cheaper and cheaper goods.
Domestic-demand manufacturers, facing rising import costs for raw materials, respond to welfare-dependent demand by squeezing their own employees' wages instead.
For Japan to raise real wages, there's no way around cutting pensions and welfare payments for people under 80, and putting people who are healthy enough to work — but don't — back to work.
>>13 >>1
The source of wages is a country's economic strength.
The source of a country's economic strength is the demand and supply generated within it.
Demand and supply aren't split between different people — they exist together inside each individual.
Workers work harder because they want to buy better things, and that's what grows both demand and supply, which is what develops a nation's economy.
People living on social welfare don't see their income grow through work, so they try to increase their disposable income by buying things cheaper — which only ever pushes value-added downward.
Social welfare may be socially just, but it's economically harmful.
What Japan needs is to convert the people dependent on social welfare into workers.
To do that, we have no choice but to get people who are healthy enough to work — but aren't — working again.
Concretely: cut pensions and welfare payments for people under 80.
The source of wages is a country's economic strength.
The source of a country's economic strength is the demand and supply generated within it.
Demand and supply aren't split between different people — they exist together inside each individual.
Workers work harder because they want to buy better things, and that's what grows both demand and supply, which is what develops a nation's economy.
People living on social welfare don't see their income grow through work, so they try to increase their disposable income by buying things cheaper — which only ever pushes value-added downward.
Social welfare may be socially just, but it's economically harmful.
What Japan needs is to convert the people dependent on social welfare into workers.
To do that, we have no choice but to get people who are healthy enough to work — but aren't — working again.
Concretely: cut pensions and welfare payments for people under 80.
Raise temp workers' pay.
Non-regular employees aren't just a hiring buffer to squeeze whenever convenient.
Non-regular employees aren't just a hiring buffer to squeeze whenever convenient.
>>17
For temp office work it's about ¥1,700/hour in Tokyo.
For temp office work it's about ¥1,700/hour in Tokyo.
>>17
Forget raising wages — some places just dump the full-time employees' work straight onto the temps. There are some awful factories where if the bonus-earning staff don't feel like doing a task, they just tell the temp "you do it" 😆
Forget raising wages — some places just dump the full-time employees' work straight onto the temps. There are some awful factories where if the bonus-earning staff don't feel like doing a task, they just tell the temp "you do it" 😆
¥1,500 minimum wage.
Make it happen right now.
And even that's still too low.
Make it happen right now.
And even that's still too low.
>>30
If a couple's combined household income is ¥2.5 million a year, maybe they could manage having one kid.
If a couple's combined household income is ¥2.5 million a year, maybe they could manage having one kid.
The yen's value has dropped to a third of what it was 20 years ago.
Wages need to triple too, or the math just doesn't add up.
Wages need to triple too, or the math just doesn't add up.
>>50
Guess we'll just have to work three times as hard, then.
Guess we'll just have to work three times as hard, then.
Just fold investment income into comprehensive taxation, and exempt anyone earning under ¥5 million total (including salary) from resident tax and income tax.
Above ¥5 million, uncapped progressive tax rates.
Wouldn't that work?
Above ¥5 million, uncapped progressive tax rates.
Wouldn't that work?
It's because cost-push inflation is outpacing the wage increases.
>>66
You're being fooled — most of that is just opportunistic price-gouging riding the trend, nothing more.
You're being fooled — most of that is just opportunistic price-gouging riding the trend, nothing more.
Everyone wants a pay raise, so why won't workers unite?
In other countries where wages are actually rising, workers band together as one and negotiate with management — Japanese workers don't do that.
If anything, they're a bunch of idiots busy squabbling amongst themselves instead.
In other countries where wages are actually rising, workers band together as one and negotiate with management — Japanese workers don't do that.
If anything, they're a bunch of idiots busy squabbling amongst themselves instead.
>>83
Why not have low-wage workers unionize and go on strike?
Then they'd all get fired and replaced with capable foreign workers — win-win for everyone, right?
Why not have low-wage workers unionize and go on strike?
Then they'd all get fired and replaced with capable foreign workers — win-win for everyone, right?
>>83
Honestly, most people are satisfied with the status quo even if they don't realize it. If they were truly struggling to get by, they'd actually do something about it.
Honestly, most people are satisfied with the status quo even if they don't realize it. If they were truly struggling to get by, they'd actually do something about it.
>>83
Because they've got a slave mentality baked in.
Because they've got a slave mentality baked in.
So 30-40% of people are actually satisfied and don't even want a pay raise, huh.
>>108
That's because younger workers are getting higher wages and more job offers without even trying — it's a seller's market for them.
That's because younger workers are getting higher wages and more job offers without even trying — it's a seller's market for them.
>>113
Even though they're useless?
Even though they're useless?
>>116
Whether they're useful or not doesn't matter. Just being young makes you valuable these days.
It's different from the Ice Age Generation (the large cohort who graduated into Japan's brutal job market of the late '90s/2000s).
Whether they're useful or not doesn't matter. Just being young makes you valuable these days.
It's different from the Ice Age Generation (the large cohort who graduated into Japan's brutal job market of the late '90s/2000s).
>>116
Losers online are always going on about "young people are useless, we're the competent ones!"
Meanwhile those self-proclaimed "competent" old guys are earning less than their own peers.
Losers online are always going on about "young people are useless, we're the competent ones!"
Meanwhile those self-proclaimed "competent" old guys are earning less than their own peers.
>>106
Right, if you don't raise wages everyone's just going to quit.
Right, if you don't raise wages everyone's just going to quit.
>>114
Exactly. Without the pressure of people quitting, wages never go up.
Exactly. Without the pressure of people quitting, wages never go up.
>>146
More like, for low-end jobs there's always someone to replace you if you quit.
Especially now, since foreign workers are putting in such good work.
More like, for low-end jobs there's always someone to replace you if you quit.
Especially now, since foreign workers are putting in such good work.
>>147
What are you even talking about?
What are you even talking about?
>>147
Don't you see the pattern — the more fluid a segment of the job market is, the more conditions improve?
Temp workers' hourly wages have shot way up, while regular full-time employees' haven't, precisely because temps just quit if they're unhappy with their treatment.
Bottom line: improving your own conditions takes the will to actually change jobs.
Don't you see the pattern — the more fluid a segment of the job market is, the more conditions improve?
Temp workers' hourly wages have shot way up, while regular full-time employees' haven't, precisely because temps just quit if they're unhappy with their treatment.
Bottom line: improving your own conditions takes the will to actually change jobs.
What's really high is social insurance premiums and taxes.
There's no way small and mid-size companies can afford pay raises, not with the weak yen tanking the economy.
It's only big corporations and public servants propping up the wage index.
It's only big corporations and public servants propping up the wage index.
>>180
If this gets pushed through forcefully, it'll probably accelerate a winner-take-all society — split between those who can land jobs and those who can't.
If this gets pushed through forcefully, it'll probably accelerate a winner-take-all society — split between those who can land jobs and those who can't.
>>180
Exactly this. The only ones getting raises are public servants and big-company employees — or people who generate huge profits for their company.
Exactly this. The only ones getting raises are public servants and big-company employees — or people who generate huge profits for their company.
>>180
In other words, small and mid-size companies are the ones dragging Japan down.
Why do people insist on glorifying SMEs? They're actually the ones with more exploitative "black" labor practices and layers of subcontracting that skim off the top — it just doesn't make the news the way big companies do. People romanticize SMEs because of old TV documentaries that tugged at their heartstrings; you're just seeing a pretty, curated slice of small business and projecting some romantic notion onto it.
In other words, small and mid-size companies are the ones dragging Japan down.
Why do people insist on glorifying SMEs? They're actually the ones with more exploitative "black" labor practices and layers of subcontracting that skim off the top — it just doesn't make the news the way big companies do. People romanticize SMEs because of old TV documentaries that tugged at their heartstrings; you're just seeing a pretty, curated slice of small business and projecting some romantic notion onto it.
>>199
SMEs are garbage. The owning family drives around in luxury cars worth tens of millions of yen while the employees are all stuck driving beat-up used cars.
The president's son joins the company in his 20s on a ¥10 million salary and drives a luxury car worth more than that.
SMEs are garbage. The owning family drives around in luxury cars worth tens of millions of yen while the employees are all stuck driving beat-up used cars.
The president's son joins the company in his 20s on a ¥10 million salary and drives a luxury car worth more than that.
>>204
So go start your own small company, then. Take on some risk yourself.
So go start your own small company, then. Take on some risk yourself.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “70% Want a “Pay Raise” Amid Rising Prices, 60% “Dissatisfied” With Wages — What a 2026 Survey Reveals.”
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