2021 Global Salary Report on Local Staff in Japanese Companies Shows the Impact of COVID-19

Nikkei Research Inc. has released the 2021 edition of its annual "Survey of Salaries and Employment Benefits for Local Staff in Japanese Companies." The report is divided into separate sections for different countries and regions. The 2021 edition covers the U.S., Mexico, Brazil and 14 Asian countries (Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam).

Examining the results for 2020, the year-over-year salary increase rate shows a clear decline in both the U.S. and Asia (looking at an average for 14 countries). The rate of increase in the U.S. was over 3% for four consecutive years from 2016 to 2019 until the pandemic, but the figure fell to 2.2% in 2020. Similarly to the case of the U.S., in Asia, the rate of increase averaged over 5% in the years before the pandemic but dropped to 4.2% in 2020. Looking ahead, the 2021 estimate from the responses is projected to be at the same level as that in 2020, indicating that the recovery will not take effect immediately but will need some more time, both in U.S. and Asia.

The report includes data related to salaries and benefits concerning job levels, wage increases and bonuses, collected from Japanese companies' overseas branches. In addition to the information on payment and benefits to employees, there are also elements such as "Days of paid leaves and rate of application," "Employee training hours and annual costs" and "Impact of COVID-19" (newly added in the 2021 edition). The report also includes breakdowns of salaries by job category, area, industry and form of local entity.

You can read further about the related results by clicking the links below.
Salary year-over-year increase rate stays 2.2%, the lowest since 2015 -- Japanese companies in the U.S.
Challenges of Local Management in the Pandemic Era: Difficult motivating and retaining talents -- Japanese companies in Asia

Please contact us if you would like to know more about the details of the report.
Nikkei Research Inc.
[email protected]

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