Meanwhile, firms are increasingly feeling shortages of labor as shown in the March Tankan. If the number of employees keeps increasing while growth in the population of those aged 15 and over peaks out, upward pressure on wages should be expected to increase over time.
Although the focus of attention tends to be the weak growth in regular payments, the positive influence of the strength in the corporate sector should not be overlooked, as this is now feeding into the household sector via various channels, such as increases in the number of employees, the wages of part-time and temporary workers, and dividends.