TOKYO -- First-time employees in Japan are earning more as companies compete to hire from a shrinking labor pool, breaking with a tradition in which younger workers accepted lower compensation in exchange for job security.
Fast Retailing, which runs the Uniqlo casual apparel chain, will raise entry-level pay for incoming college graduates to 255,000 yen ($2,288) a month from 210,000 yen in spring of next year for positions that involve location transfers. The change will affect a few hundred of the roughly 650 new recruits expected to be signed on that year. There are also plans to revise compensation for new graduates employed this spring.
