Specifically, labor market conditions have been tightening further in a wide range of industries -- as evidenced by the medical and nursing service industry, for example, where labor shortage has become more severe amid an increase in job openings resulting from large firms entering the market -- and hourly cash earnings of part-time employees in particular have started to increase.
Against this backdrop, in the service industry, such as dining-out and transportation, some firms have started to  4  raise prices since the second half of 2017 by passing a rise in labor costs -- arising from labor shortage -- on to prices.