• Labor-Management Negotiations in Spring 2023
• Recruitment of Experienced Workers
• Promote Labor Mobility
• Revenue Sources for Increasing Defense Spending
• Mileage-based Taxation

Labor-Management Negotiations in Spring 2023

With regard to the spring labor-management negotiations, Keidanren has long been calling for making decisions based on the "fundamental principles on deciding wages" (Each company should decide on wages under appropriate management of overall labor cost, in accordance with its ability to pay, and after going through labor-management consultations, giving overall consideration to external factors, such as the economic, business, and commodity price situation, and internal factors, such as the company's business performance and changes in the labor structure.) In the spring 2023 labor-management negotiations, trends in commodity prices should be the top priority among the various factors to be considered. We would like to maintain the momentum of wage increases and realize a virtuous cycle of prices and wages. We plan to call on member companies to implement wage increases, focusing on pay scale increases, including, allowances, bonuses, and one-off payments. To enable the momentum of wage increases to extend to the small and mid-sized enterprises, which employ 70% of all workers, it is necessary to continue to promote transactions at fair prices through Declarations of Partnership Building and other initiatives.

[In response to a question on Rengo's draft proposal to work for around 5% wage increase] Considering the current commodity price level, this is not surprising, but it is still an ambitious target. Labor and management in each company should engage in careful discussions on the appropriate level of wage increase.

Recruitment of Experienced Workers

The hiring of people other than fresh graduates is widely called "mid-career hiring." Since the word "mid-career" comes with a certain negative connotation, and there is now an increasing number of companies hiring throughout the year, I think "recruitment of experienced workers" is better.

Promote Labor Mobility

Smooth labor mobility to the growth industries and areas is indispensable for reforming the industrial structure and fortifying the Japanese economy through promoting green transformation (GX) and digital transformation (DX). Toward this end, it is necessary for the government and the private sector to work together to provide strong support to the workers' own initiatives at career building and development of ability by strengthening the functions of occupational training, reskilling, and job matching, building safety nets, and so forth.

Revenue Sources for Increasing Defense Spending

Defense affects all Japanese people, so it is only natural that the cost is spread out thinly and broadly among the people. It is important to engage in thorough discussions on various issues, such as benefits and burden. At this point, it is not advisable to carry out discussions focusing only on certain tax items.

Mileage-based Taxation

[Answering a question on the government's Tax Commission's inclusion of mileage-based automobile tax in its agenda] The government's Tax Commission is a body for discussing mid- and long-term tax systems. I think it is probably considering optimum taxation from various angles on the assumption of social changes expected to occur after the popularization of EVs. While such discussions are important, it is also necessary to look into streamlining the current complicated automobile-related taxes.