Japanese workers not keen on salary payments via app
App-based 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 toward a cashless future.
Over 100 companies now offer PayPay, a government-approved mobile payment app, as a method to receive salaries. But in a recent survey by research firm MMD Labo, only 2.8 percent of 20,000 people between 18 and 69 said they get their pay via app.
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 experts saying that part-time workers who want to be paid faster are likely to take up the app option more readily.
Under the current framework, companies need to get an agreement from employees if they wish to be paid their wages via app.
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.
According to another survey among 10,000 respondents, approximately a third of them do not want to get their salaries through an app.
Among 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 lack of demand, increased costs and administrative work.
Yet despite there being little demand for app salary payments, the 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, the economy ministry said.
