Japan Press Weekly

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2026 September 2 - 8 [LABOR]

Minimum wages will rise by 56 yen on average, still short of workers’ demand for at least 1,500 yen minimum wage

With 47 prefectural minimum wage councils’ announcement on the revision of their regional minimum hourly wage for this fiscal year on September 3, the national average of minimum wage will increase to 1,177 yen, up 56 yen from the current 1,121 yen. However, the extent of the increase is lower than the previous year’s 66 yen and the amount fails to meet workers’ demand for a minimum wage of at least 1,500 yen.

Among the revised regional minimum wages, the highest is Tokyo’s 1,280 yen while the lowest is 1,085 yen in Miyazaki. The gap in regional minimum wages narrowed by a mere eight yen to 195 yen.

Under Japan’s minimum wage system, minimum hourly wages are determined by local councils based on the Labor Ministry’s central council recommendation for an increase in regional minimum wages which is usually issued around the end of July every year. Under the recommendation, 47 prefectures are divided into three groups (A though C) and the amount of the increase is specified for each group.

This year’s recommendation offered a 54-yen hike to Group A (Tokyo and five prefectures) and a 56-yen hike to Group B (Kyoto and 27 prefectures) and C (Okinawa, Saga, and 11 prefectures).

This year, the number of prefectures which decided to raise their regional minimum wages higher than the recommendation decreased to 33 from 39 in the previous year.

The pace of minimum wage hikes has slowed. In the background lies the Takaichi government’s decision to postpone the goal of increasing the national average to 1,500 yen per hour within this decade.

The revised regional minimum wages will be implemented in October in 37 prefectures, November in seven prefectures, and December in three prefectures.

Past related article:
> Unions rally to pressure Labor Ministry’s panel to increase minimum wage to 1,700 yen [June 27, 2026]