Japan to Hike Minimum Pay by Record, Backing BOJ’s Rate Hikes

Japan will raise its minimum hourly wage by a record 6.3% to ¥1,121 ($7.56), reinforcing the nation’s wage-price cycle and supporting the case for the Bank of Japan to keep hiking rates.

Prefectures nationwide will boost minimum pay by an average of ¥66 an hour in the current fiscal year, the labor ministry said Friday. The increase marked the largest since records began in 1978. The new wage level, which applies to about three million workers, will gradually take effect from October.