Nearly 70% of Companies Raise Salaries Despite Revenue and Profit Decline: Analysis of 2,359 Listed Companies Reveals Reality of 'Defensive Wage Hikes' [Fiscal 2026]

Career Reveal, a corporate analysis platform operated by Fperi Inc., conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 2,359 listed companies for which financial performance and average annual salary data are available and comparable for fiscal years 2025 and 2026. The study examined the correlation between changes in sales, profits, and average annual salary growth rates.

The analysis revealed that 79.2% of the companies increased their average annual salaries (median growth rate: +3.10%), confirming an established upward trend in salary levels among listed firms. Notably, even among companies with declining profits (reducing profits), 72.0% raised salaries. Furthermore, 67.7% (nearly 70%) of companies experiencing both revenue and profit declines ('revenue-and-profit-declining companies') also saw salary increases. This indicates that current wage growth is not limited to profit-sharing by high-performing firms but is rapidly spreading as 'defensive compensation improvements' to underperforming companies amid severe labor shortages.

※ The year-on-year change rate in average annual salary does not directly represent base pay increases or wage hike rates. It may be affected by employee composition, average age, bonuses, hiring, retirements, secondment arrangements, and holding company restructuring.

Key Analysis Results

- Analyzed 2,359 companies with comparable average annual salary data from FY2025 to FY2026 - 79.2% of companies increased average annual salaries - Median year-on-year change rate in average annual salary: +3.10% - 82.6% of profit-increasing companies and 72.0% of profit-decreasing companies raised average annual salaries - 75.8% of revenue-increasing/profit-decreasing companies and 67.7% of revenue-and-profit-declining companies raised salaries - Among profit-decreasing companies, those raising salaries tend to have higher median sales and employee counts than those not raising salaries - Salary increases are spreading not only to high-performing companies but also to those under profit pressure

Salary Increase Rates by Revenue and Profit Trends

Category

Number of Companies

Companies with Salary Increase

Median Salary Change Rate

Revenue & Profit Increase

1,371

83.2%

+3.38%

Revenue Increase / Profit Decrease

389

75.8%

+2.77%

Revenue Decrease / Profit Increase

239

79.1%

+3.28%

Revenue & Profit Decrease

347

67.7%

+2.12%

※ This calculation includes 2,346 companies for which both FY2025 and FY2026 sales and representative profit metrics are comparable and year-on-year profit changes are non-zero.

Salary Increase Rates by Profit Trends

Category

Number of Companies

Companies with Salary Increase

Median Salary Change Rate

Profit Increase

1,616

82.6%

+3.35%

Profit Decrease

742

72.0%

+2.46%

※ One company with flat profits (zero year-on-year difference) was excluded from this calculation.

Comparison of Salary-Increasing vs. Non-Increasing Companies Among Profit-Decreasing Firms

Metric

Profit-Decreasing & Salary-Increasing

Profit-Decreasing & Salary-Not-Increasing

Difference

Number of Companies

534

208

-

Median Salary Change Rate

+3.72%

-2.93%

+6.65 pts

Median Tenure

14.55 years

14.15 years

+0.40 years

Median Average Annual Salary (FY2026)

¥6.582 million

¥6.376 million

+¥206,000

Median Sales

¥35.34 billion

¥25.26 billion

+¥10.08 billion

Median Profit

¥1.49 billion

¥1.11 billion

+¥380 million

Median Employee Count

799

639.5

+159.5

Proportion with Increased Employee Count vs. Prior Year

60.3%

56.7%

+3.6 pts

Average Annual Salary Change Rate (Overall, FY2025 to FY2026)

Metric

Result

Number of Companies

2,359

Proportion with Salary Increase

79.2%

Median Year-on-Year Change Rate

+3.10%

Mean

+3.25%

Career Reveal Editorial Comment

This analysis shows that 72.0% of profit-decreasing companies raised average annual salaries, not just profit-increasing ones. Moreover, 75.8% of revenue-increasing/profit-decreasing firms and 67.7% of revenue-and-profit-declining firms increased salaries, indicating that wage growth is no longer limited to high-performing companies.

This suggests that rising average salaries may reflect not only profit-sharing but also defensive compensation improvements aimed at maintaining recruitment and retention.

However, average annual salary changes are not equivalent to wage hike rates and can be influenced by employee composition, average age, bonuses, hiring, and retirements. Job seekers and career changers should evaluate not only salary levels but also sales, profits, employee count, and median tenure to assess whether compensation improvements are sustainable.

Survey Overview

Target: 2,359 listed companies (primarily) with comparable average annual salary data for FY2025 and FY2026 Fiscal Years: FY2025 and FY2026 (periods vary by company's fiscal calendar) Source: Career Reveal's aggregation based on XBRL data from companies' securities reports and other disclosures

Career Reveal is a corporate analysis platform that visualizes human capital data—including average income, overtime hours, turnover rates, and female management ratios—based on listed companies' securities reports and integrated reports.

About Career Reveal

Career Reveal serves as an open infrastructure for human capital data, structuring and enabling cross-comparison of Japanese corporate human capital metrics using primary sources such as securities reports and sustainability reports. It organizes indicators like overtime, turnover, paid leave usage, training, and diversity by company and industry to support corporate research and understanding of human capital disclosures.

Operator: Fperi Inc. URL: https://www.career-reveal.com

＜Notes＞

※ The year-on-year change rate in average annual salary in this analysis does not represent base pay increase or wage hike rates ※ Average annual salary may be affected by employee composition, average age, bonuses, hiring, retirements, secondments, and holding company restructuring ※ 'Profit' in this analysis refers to the representative profit metric extracted by Career Reveal from each company's XBRL data. Depending on accounting standards, it primarily uses operating income under JGAAP, and pre-tax income under IFRS and US GAAP. If unavailable, it sequentially uses operating income, gross profit, net income attributable to owners of parent, or net income ※ Profit increase/decrease classification is based on year-on-year difference in the representative profit metric (whether FY2026 exceeds or falls below FY2025), not on growth rate ※ Two companies were excluded from analysis due to deemed inappropriate year-on-year comparison caused by group restructuring or holding company conversion ※ This analysis organizes the relationship between changes in average annual salary and performance/employee composition; it does not establish causality