As the risk of stagflation in Japan has risen, some funds have shown interest in estimating the results of Shunto – the wage negotiations between corporations and unions that take place every March. Several data vendors are preparing to offer products that capture significant changes to inflation and wages. This report reviews studies that use corporate financial, governmental and job listings data to monitor the Japanese labour market.

LITERATURE

We summarise key findings from two papers published by the Bank of Japan in April 2023:

1. “Price Markups and Wage Setting Behavior of Japanese Firms”, by Kosuke Aoki, Yoshihiko Hogen and Kosuke Takatomi.
2. “Labor Market of Regular Workers in Japan: A Perspective from Job Advertisement Data”, by Kakuho Furukawa, Yoshihiko Hogen and Yosuke Kido.