Japanese firms dole out smaller pay hikes as coronavirus outbreak squeezes profits

Published Wed, Mar 11, 2020 · 09:50 PM

Tokyo

AGAINST the backdrop of the coronavirus epidemic and a looming global economic slowdown, major Japanese firms tightened their belts in influential annual wage deals hammered out with unions on Wednesday.

Setting the tone, bellwether Toyota Motor Corp said it had agreed to give workers an average monthly pay raise that's 20 per cent lower than last year's hike. What's more, base pay will not rise for the first time in seven years.

Major steelmakers followed suit and did not raise base pay, threatening Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's lofty goal of generating a self-sustaining growth cycle - a key plank of his "Aben…