TOKYO, March 22 Reuters Japanese firms have agreed to raise pay by 5.25 this year, the biggest amount and ratio under comparable data available since 2013, the country39;s largest union group Rengo confirmed on Friday.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said the government is counting on such wage hikes to trickle down to smaller and mediumsized firms, which account for a whopping 99.7 of all enterprises and about 70 of Japan39;s workforce, but many lack the pricing power to pass higher costs to customers.

We will examine how broad the trend of wage hikes is spreading at a meeting on April 4, Akira Nidaira, a senior Rengo official told a news conference.

Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Himani Sarkar

Source Reuters