Toyota salary bonus is highest since 2008
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TOKYO (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. approved the biggest salary bonus in five years as a weakening yen boosts the value of exports, helping the world's largest automaker project the highest profit since 2008.
Toyota agreed to a union proposal for a 2013 average bonus of about 2.05 million yen ($21,375), compared with 1.77 million yen in 2012, the company said today.
The automaker paid a 2.51 million yen bonus in 2008, according to the Japan Automobile Workers' Union. The carmaker's bonus increase follows similar boosts by its biggest Japanese rivals Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., adding to signs the nation's manufacturers have recovered after earthquakes and a tsunami in Japan and floods in Thailand disrupted output in 2011 and 2012.
A 17 percent drop in the yen since Oct. 31, fueled by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pledge of "unlimited" stimulus, has also helped manufacturers by boosting the value of exports. Abe, elected after vowing to end deflation, has also called on companies whose businesses have improved to raise wages to help achieve a 2 percent inflation target.
Japanese companies traditionally set twice-a-year bonuses as a multiple of monthly salary and the payments are treated as guaranteed pay and not considered incentive compensation. The amounts are adjusted annually, typically in negotiations with labor unions.
Toyota's stock price has risen 18 percent in 2013.
The automaker outsold General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG globally last year, regaining the industry sales lead after ceding it to GM in 2011. Toyota last month raised its full-year net income forecast by 10 percent to 860 billion yen, more than triple 2012 profit and the highest since the year ended March 2008.
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