The Japanese government wants wage rates to rise, but this piece from Bloomberg shows that its resulting in less hours worked
- That's because more than 75 percent of part-time workers are women, and married part-time workers are eligible for tax, social welfare and pension benefits if their annual salary is under certain limits. When an increase in hourly pay risk pushing people over the threshold, a logical response is to cut work hours.
- Full-time workers don't have the same disincentives to keep their salaries low, and they've been increasing the amount they work
The full Bloomberg piece is here ... and highlights some of the structural change still needed in Japan
