Average summer bonus at leading companies up 2.9% on year.

TOKYO, Sept. 21 Kyodo

The average summer bonus at Japan's top 276 companies rose 2.86% over the previous year to 783,113 yen, the first increase in three years, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said in a survey Friday.

The upturn appears to have sprung from increased profitability in some industrial sectors in the latter half of 2000, it said.

Among such sectors, petroleum product makers gave employees the highest year-on-year rise in percentage terms at 12.44%, followed by manufacturers of electronics goods at 11.02%. Makers of foodstuffs  and tobacco products registered the third-largest hike at 8.90%.

Their percentage gains contrasted sharply with those of automobile makers, construction companies and chemical makers. Automakers' average bonus shrank 9.05%, construction firms 6.95% and chemical companies 4.80%.

But on a value basis, construction companies paid the largest average bonus at 886,018 yen, followed by electric utilities at 878,074 yen. Newspaper and printing houses paid an average 873,515 yen.

Workers at automobile companies, retailers and wholesalers were less fortunate. Carmakers paid an average 468,846 yen and retailers and wholesalers 581,317 yen.

The survey covered 276 firms with capitals of more than 2 billion yen listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange  and the Osaka Securities Exchange. It covered the firms that employ more than 1,000 people.