賃下げ

• Reading: ちんさげ
• Romaji: chinsage
• Kanji breakdown: 賃 (chin) — wages, fee, rent; 下 (sa) — down, lower, reduce
• Pronunciation: /tɕiɴ.sa.ge/

Meaning

Pay cut; wage reduction. A decrease in the wages or salaries paid to workers.

The antonym of 賃上げ, 賃下げ is considered a sensitive and legally complex action in Japanese employment law. Because Japanese labour law makes wage reduction without employee consent difficult, 賃下げ通告 (notice of wage reduction) often triggers labour disputes. It is associated with corporate restructuring, financial distress, or bankruptcy proceedings. The term carries a strongly negative connotation in the context of employee relations.

Examples

1. 経営危機に陥った会社は、全社員に対して十パーセントの賃下げを通告した。 A company in financial crisis notified all its employees of a ten percent pay cut.
2. 賃下げを拒否した従業員が解雇されたとして、労働争議に発展した。 An employee who refused the pay cut was dismissed, leading to a labour dispute.
3. 業績不振を理由とした賃下げは、労働組合との合意なしには難しい。 A pay cut on grounds of poor performance is difficult to implement without the consent of the trade union.

Usage Guide

Context: labour law, corporate restructuring, economics

Tone: negative

Origin & History

Compound of 賃 (chin, wages) and 下げ (sage, lowering/reducing). The direct counterpart to 賃上げ. The 下げ component parallels 上げ in the antonym pair, following a productive morphological pattern in Japanese.

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: Adults

Social background: Universal