Some companies in Japan are pledging pay increases beyond the 5-percent goal of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo.

The firms have announced their offers well ahead of the next spring negotiations in an attempt to retain current workers and attract new hires.

Nojima, which runs a home-appliance retail chain, plans to raise its base wages in January for the third year in a row for its workforce of around 3,000.

Employees at stores and call centers can expect an additional monthly allowance of up to 25,000 yen, or about 167 dollars, starting in April. That works out to a total raise of around 7 percent.

Suntory Holdings has announced a hike of similar scale for next spring. It would be the third year in a row for the beverage maker to give raises.

Attention is focused on whether other major firms will follow suit.

The trend may also spread to small and medium-sized firms, where pay raises have tended to be relatively small.

Rengo plans to demand at least 6 percent from managers at these companies.