Majority of Companies Freeze Starting Salary for Third Straight Year

According to a survey conducted by the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations (Nikkeiren), 59.8% of the 505 companies surveyed replied that they have frozen the starting salaries they offer. This figure is 4.2 points higher than last year's and marked the third straight year that over half the companies surveyed have frozen starting salaries. The most frequent reason given for this was the freezing of basic salaries.

By schooling, starting salaries were as follows: graduate school, clerical: 222,264 yen (up 0.4%); university, clerical: 202,448 yen (up 0.2%); technical college, technical: 178,818 yen (up 0.3%); junior college, clerical: 170,716 yen (up 0.2%); and high school, clerical: 159,287 yen (up 0.2%).

By industry, printing and publishing jobs are the highest paid, with a starting salary index of 109.0, while finance and insurance was the lowest paid with an index of 87.4. (Average of starting salaries for university graduates in clerical jobs for all industries indexed at 100).