TOKYO (Bernama-Kyodo): App-based digital salary payments are yet to gain traction in Japan two years after being introduced, with only a fraction of workers choosing the option despite the nation slowly trending towards a cashless future.
Over 100 companies now offer PayPay, a government-approved mobile payment app, as a method to receive salaries, but only 2.8 percent of 20,000 people aged between 18 and 69 surveyed recently said they are paid via the app or another like it, despite 61.9 per cent knowing it may be possible, Kyodo News reported citing research firm MMD Labo.
While four app providers have started offering salary payment services, experts believe people need to see more benefits from choosing the method for it to grow in popularity.
Partial or complete salary payments via one of the approved apps are also mostly available only to full-time employees, with the experts saying that part-time workers who want to be paid more swiftly are a group that would likely take up the option more readily.
Under the current framework, companies need to get agreement from employees if they wish to pay wages via the apps.
Yoshinoya Co., a beef bowl chain operator, began offering salary payments via PayPay in April.
"I use PayPay often so I don't need to charge it" if wages are paid to the app, a female part-time worker said.
Meanwhile, another survey conducted by a private-sector company for the government targeting 10,000 people showed that approximately a third do not want to receive their salaries on one of the apps. Of those not interested, 48 percent said they do not see the need for it.
The survey also showed nearly 80 percent of around 2,300 companies have no plan to introduce the option, citing the lack of demand, increased costs and administrative work.
Despite there being little demand for app salary payments, Japanese are slowly but steadily shaking off their preference for notes and coins.
The percentage of cashless payments in 2024 topped 40 percent of all settlements in value, achieving the government's target a year ahead of schedule, the economy ministry said. - Bernama-Kyodo News
