4.4 Wages

Employers must pay wages in legal tender, directly to the employee, not less than once per month, and on a specified date. However, employers are allowed to remit wages into a bank account in said employee’s name specified by the employee where the employee agrees to that method of payment, and may also deduct social insurance premiums, taxes and similar expenses from wages. Digital salary payments (through fund transfer into an account held at a fund transfer service provider) are partially permitted, effective April 2023.

The minimum wage is determined according to region and industry. Where an employee is subject to two different minimums, the employee is entitled to the higher of the two minimum wages. The employer must pay the employee a wage that is not less than the minimum wage. The minimum wages in main prefectures are as follows (as of October 2023).

It is typical for Japanese companies to pay wages on a monthly basis, and to pay employees summer and winter bonuses. One characteristic of Japanese wages is the make-up: monthly wages usually include a basic wage and a range of allowances, which may include accommodation, family and transportation allowances. Another characteristic is that the amount paid in bonuses makes up a relatively high proportion of total wages paid to employees*1. An effect of the high proportion of wages made up of various allowances and bonuses consequently is to lower the rate of overtime pay paid for work outside normal working hours. This system also allows labor costs to be immediately reduced in the event of a recession, for example. Although more businesses are adopting a yearly wage system, there are often few benefits for employers in practice under Japanese labor law*2. Further information is available through the Basic Survey on Wage Structure statistics collated regularly and provided by the Ministry of Health, Labor & Welfare in both Japanese and English.

Almost all enterprises in Japan have some form of severance pay system. Normally when a worker leaves an enterprise, his/her employer will make a one-off payment calculated according to factors including length of service and reason for leaving the enterprise. This is not subject to social insurance contributions and is treated more favorably for tax purposes than ordinary pay. Provided that certain conditions are met, an enterprise that contributes to a severance pay reserve held by a government, financial, or similar institution may recognize these contributions as expenses for accounting purposes.