Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Friday his government will set up an expert panel to discuss ways to promote salary hikes by small and midsize companies to "achieve salary hikes that outpace rising prices."Ishiba, who spoke of the plan at the first meeting of the economic and fiscal policy council since he took office, has already expressed an aim to raise the country's average minimum hourly wage to 1,500 yen ($9.90) by the end of the 2020s.Ishiba's ambitious minimum wage target has raised concerns among business owners. His predecessor, Fumio Kishida, vowed to achieve that tar…READ FULL ARTICLE
