Japan’s major companies have concluded their annual labor talks with average wage hikes of 3.8% for the coming fiscal year, the largest raise in about three decades, The Japan Times reports, citing trade union confederation Rengo. The average salary increase comes out to JPY 11,884 (USD 89) per month, a preliminary survey of 805 unions affiliated with Rengo documented.

Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been putting pressure on businesses to increase wages amid rising inflation and a weakening yen. Labour unions, large corporations, and government officials have been negotiating wages during Japan’s annual shunto (spring wage campaign) talks. Large corporations have yielded to the demands for wage hikes from the unions, but as the Japan Times reported, the outlook for smaller companies made up of close to 70% of Japan’s workforce, is less positive. Japanese wages have seen little upward movement since the late 1990s and are now well behind the average for the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) group of rich member countries.