Advertised Hourly Wages Rose 4.02%, While Job Postings at Minimum Wage Level Expanded to Nearly 20% Nationwide 【July 2026 Report on the Impact of Minimum Wage Revision】

Frog Inc. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Kaoko Sano, hereinafter "the company"), a provider of job listing big data for analysis, has released the "July 2026 Report on the Impact of Minimum Wage Revision."

Overview

Starting in July 2026, discussions on the 2026 fiscal year's minimum wage revision have intensified. With another significant increase expected following last year's hike, this year's minimum wage trends are attracting considerable attention.

In the 2025 fiscal year, the minimum wage was raised to the highest level on record. Additionally, the effective dates varied by prefecture, with new minimum wage rates being implemented sequentially across regions.

Given that the 2025 minimum wage revisions have now been fully implemented nationwide, how have advertised hourly wages on job boards changed? This report analyzes trends in advertised wages after the nationwide rollout of revised minimum wages, using data collected from job posting platforms. We hope this serves as a useful reference ahead of the 2026 minimum wage revision.

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HRog Chart: A job data analytics tool for HR professionals and staffing industry stakeholders to instantly understand the current hiring market.

This tool enables easy analysis of job listing big data accumulated from approximately 150 job boards, in a format similar to Excel pivot tables. Users can freely customize aggregation criteria such as media source, region, and job type, enabling quick and data-driven analysis of hiring market trends and local hourly wage benchmarks for part-time recruitment.

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Key Findings

Nationally, advertised hourly wages increased by +4.02% over the approximately nine-month period from September 2025 to June 2026, reflecting a greater-than-usual impact from the record-level minimum wage revision.

The proportion of job postings offering wages equal to the minimum wage rose from a national average of 14.79% to 20.35%. In the Chubu region, this reached 24.54%, meaning roughly one in four job postings offered wages at the minimum level.

The gap between minimum wage and advertised wages narrowed by 13 yen nationally, from 128 yen to 115 yen. Regions with higher minimum wage increase rates showed a trend of smaller wage premiums, indicating less capacity for employers to offer wages above the minimum.

By job category, the healthcare and welfare sector had the largest gap at 234 yen above minimum wage, while sales and customer service roles saw over 30% of postings offering wages equal to the minimum wage.

Review of the 2025 Minimum Wage Revision

Minimum wage increases have been rising year by year. In FY2025, the national weighted average increased by 66 yen from the previous year to 1,121 yen. By prefecture, increases ranged from 63 to 82 yen, and as a result of this revision, all prefectures surpassed the 1,000-yen threshold.

However, since minimum wages are determined based on regional economic conditions and impacts on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), effective dates varied across regions. Implementation began sequentially from October 2025, but six prefectures—including Akita Prefecture—did not implement the revision until 2026, taking about six months for the nationwide rollout to complete.

*For details on minimum wage revisions, refer to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's "National List of Regional Minimum Wages."

Analysis of Advertised Wage Trends

How has the national average changed?

Looking at the national average advertised hourly wage on part-time job sites, it reached 1,242 yen in June 2026, a +4.02% increase compared to September 2025, before the minimum wage revision.

Historically, advertised wages tend to rise from the previous month in October, when minimum wage revisions take effect. However, the increase rate had previously remained below 2.5%. The post-FY2025 revision shows a significantly greater impact on advertised wages than in previous years.

Analyzing the Timing of Wage Increases

Next, we analyzed prefectures with different effective dates by calculating the proportion of job postings exceeding the revised minimum wage, to understand how advertised wages catch up to the new minimum wage levels.

In all regions, advertised wages were raised in line with the effective date of the minimum wage revision, and the proportion of postings exceeding the revised minimum wage increased. In regions with later effective dates, wage increases progressed more gradually, suggesting that companies had longer preparation periods before implementing wage hikes.

However, the timing of increased postings above the revised minimum wage was also delayed, potentially creating regional disparities in when job seekers can access higher-paying opportunities.

Have job postings at minimum wage levels increased?

Next, using April 2026—immediately after the nationwide completion of the minimum wage revision—as a baseline, we examined the proportion of job postings advertised at the minimum wage level by region. Nationally, the average rose from 14.79% in April 2025 to 20.35% in April 2026, increasing to nearly 20%.

By region, the Chubu area saw the highest increase, rising 10.63 percentage points from 13.91% to 24.54%. Other regions, including Kyushu-Okinawa and non-Tokyo areas in Kanto, also showed significant increases, indicating a widespread rise in minimum-wage-level job postings.

With minimum wages raised to a record high, labor costs continue to rise. Particularly among SMEs, setting wages above the minimum has become increasingly difficult, leading more companies to opt for recruitment at the minimum wage level.

Analysis of the Gap Between Minimum Wage and Advertised Wages

Here, we examine the gap between minimum wage and advertised wages by region to understand how much employers are adding to the minimum. As before, we use April 2026—immediately after the nationwide completion of the revision—as the baseline.

Nationally, the average gap narrowed from 128 yen in April 2025 to 115 yen in April 2026, a 13-yen reduction. Across all regions, the gap decreased compared to the previous year, indicating that wage premiums over the minimum wage are shrinking in response to the minimum wage hikes.

Notably, regions that previously had larger gaps showed greater reductions. In Tokyo, the gap narrowed by 20 yen, from 161 yen to 141 yen. While still the highest in the nation, the premium has significantly decreased.

Next, we analyzed the relationship between the prefecture-level gap between minimum wage and advertised wages as of April 2026 and the FY2025 minimum wage increase rate.

The data shows that Akita Prefecture, with an increase rate exceeding 8%, had a gap of only 78 yen, while Tokyo, with a 5.4% increase rate, had a gap of 141 yen—revealing significant disparities across prefectures.

This suggests that in regions with higher minimum wage increase rates, companies have less capacity to add premiums above the minimum. If large-scale minimum wage hikes continue, corporate wage burden will grow further, potentially affecting advertised wage settings.

How much do advertised wages exceed minimum wage by job category?

Finally, we also examined the gap between minimum wage and advertised wages by job category.

The largest premium was in "healthcare and welfare," at 234 yen above minimum wage. This sector includes many specialized roles such as home nursing and caregiving, with advertised wages typically in the 1,500-yen range. Next was amusement, at 151 yen, primarily centered around pachinko parlors and 1