TOKYO -- Personnel expenses at Japan's large corporations have grown to their highest level in 16 years as a deepening shortage of workers has forced them to increase pay for part-timers.
These costs came to 13.38 trillion yen ($121 billion) in the January-March quarter, a level not seen since the same period of 2002, according to a Finance Ministry survey on companies with capital of at least 1 billion yen. The ministry used a moving average of the last four quarters to take into account seasonal fluctuations.The tally has risen 8.3% from a low in July-September 2013, and 6.6% over the past year.
