Economy pays tab for Japan Inc's free lunch on overtime

Tokyo

JAPANESE workers put up with long hours and unpaid overtime under pressure from cost-saving companies, and figures from government, which wants more money in workers' pockets to boost consumer spending, appear to underestimate the problem.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is trying to enact labour reforms as part of his "Abenomics" plan to end decades of stagnant growth and deflation.