Salary Survey Japan 2026
Get insights from the industry insider:
Your 2026 salary guide for hiring and jobs in Japan
Japan's job market is constantly moving, and we have the inside knowledge. With Japan’s most comprehensive and data driven salary benchmarking tool, you stay not just current but steps ahead.
Our salary guide is your definitive guide to what’s happening in your industry, and where it’s heading next. We arm you with the facts and analysis to take bold decisions, fine tune the next steps in your career search and outsmart your competition when it comes to talent attraction and retention.
With over 60 specliased teams in Tokyo and Osaka, we offer salary and market insights for permanent and contract positions in Japan across all disciplines.
Salary insights, the power of knowledge
Informed by real-world market data, analysis and insights, our Salary Survey leaves no stone unturned to reveal your industry’s:
- Trends to watch
- In-demand skillsets
- Salary expectations
We put the power in your hands with tools to drill down on the sectors, roles and stats that matter to you. So, whether you’re seeking global perspectives, national knowledge, or local intel – you’ll find it in our Salary Survey.
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Key Salary & Compensation insights in Japan
Enhance your compensation strategy with Market Intelligence services
Drive successful talent acquisition and retention with our data-driven insights. Achieve workforce diversity, team growth, and strategic relocations with confidence. Our expert team delivers precise salary and benefits benchmarking, talent and market mapping, and competitor analysis to elevate your hiring strategy.Hiring Manager? Benchmark your teams salaries
If you’re growing your team or simply need to retain the talent you have, the Salary Survey gives you the insights you need to have the right team in place to keep your business moving forward.
Candidate? Find out your salary potential
Whether you’re looking for a new role or preparing for your end-of-year appraisal, the Salary Survey will arm you with everything you need to know to get what you deserve.
Our outlook for 2026 in Japan
Japan's labour market enters 2026 with labour shortages reaching historic levels not seen in three decades. An overwhelming 87% of companies we surveyed in Japan are concerned about skills and talent shortages in their field of hiring, a persistent challenge continuing from the previous year that shows no signs of abating.
Wage growth momentum remains robust. Spring wage negotiations in 2025 secured increases averaging 5.46%, marking the second consecutive year above 5% - a feat not achieved since 1990-91. Our survey reveals that 55% of companies are planning salary increases for their employees in the coming year, reflecting the mounting imperative to sustain competitive compensation amid persistent inflation and fierce competition for skilled professionals.
The workplace itself is being transformed by AI adoption at a pace few anticipated. According to our survey, 60.7% of employees now use AI technologies such as ChatGPT daily in their work, a dramatic leap from just 24.5% the previous year. This technological shift presents both opportunities and challenges. While many employers anticipate that AI will create new types of entry level jobs requiring technical skills, a significant proportion express concern about the difficulty of reskilling or upskilling existing employees to work effectively alongside AI.
The evolving priorities of today's workforce reflect this changing landscape. While company culture and values remain crucial factors that candidates consider, compensation and benefits are becoming more important than ever. Nearly half of candidates report that their main challenge in finding the right job is that salaries and benefits don't meet their expectations, a clear signal that competitive pay packages are now table stakes in the battle for talent.
As Japan navigates these intersecting forces of demographic decline, wage inflation, technological disruption, and evolving workforce expectations, the question for business leaders is no longer whether to adapt, but how quickly and comprehensively they can transform their talent strategies to compete in 2026's dynamic landscape.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Why should I use a salary guide?
To find out what a reasonable salary is for the job and industry you are in or are thinking of moving into, use our guide to discover the average pay for someone with a similar level of experience as you and view your earning potential. -
What are the benefits of using a salary benchmarking guide?
Whether you're due a pay rise, promotion, or bonus, our guide allows you to review accurate market salary and pay averages to see how you can compare to others in your sector. Having accurate data-led information will help identify exactly how much you should be earning so you can prepare to negotiate your pay in your next performance review. -
When is the best time to negotiate my pay?
Pay reviews often take place during the annual and half-year employee performance review periods. Make sure you take this into consideration and time your negotiation right. If the annual pay review is in January, and you call the meeting for February, you're likely to have missed the boat. In such a case, November would be the most suitable time here. -
What is the salary benchmarking process and why is it important?
Salary benchmarking is the process of comparing salaries across the market for a particular job and providing a range and average for a particular role which can help guide an employer's decision-making on pay or bonuses during appraisal period or when making a new hire. The benchmarking process is essential for assessing and comparing pay and compensation packages in relation to the market and of those provided by competitors. Pay and compensation benchmarking can also provide significant competitor advantage, through the retention and attraction of top talent and enhancing an organisations reputation. -
How to do benchmarking?
In partnership with a data collection specialist, a benchmarking tool offers a fully comprehensive list of salary ranges and averages based on location, experience level and more. You can view the latest salary range and averages in our 2026 guide. -
How should employers evaluate employee pay & compensation during performance reviews?
Salary and compensation reviews often take place during the annual and half-year employee performance reviews. In tangent with the employee performance scoring, you can use a salary benchmarking tool to inform the pay and compensation review process. The tool also gives good insight into market trends in-demand skill sets. So, use performance reviews to see where the employee fits relative to the external jobs market and avoid losing in-demand talent through effective pay and compensation strategies.