Abe urges firms to raise wages by 3% or more

Tokyo

JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday urged companies to raise wages by 3 per cent or more next year, keeping up pressure on firms to spend their huge cash pile on wages to broaden the benefits of his "Abenomics" stimulus policies.

"We must sustain and strengthen Japan's positive economic cycle next year to achieve our long-standing goal of beating deflation," he said in a speech at a meeting of Japan's biggest business lobby, Keidanren. "For that, I'd like to ask companies to raise wages by 3 per cent or higher next spring," he added.