13  Longer periods imply lower tax rates. 14  In ETT (Exempt, Taxed, Taxed) systems, workers’ contributions to pension funds are tax-exempt, while the other two components of the pension scheme (the returns earned by the pension funds during the accumulation phase and the end-of-period capital) are taxed.
Taking into consideration the structural downward pressure on scheduled cash earnings that stems from the recent increase in the number of part-time employees who work for short hours and the rising trend in the ratio of part-time employees to total employment, it is doubtful whether a rise in base salaries, mainly of full-time employees at some large firms, will constitute a significant wage rate hike from a macroeconomic viewpoint (Chart 11).