A government panel agreed Tuesday to recommend that the country’s minimum hourly wages be raised by 14 yen to 763 yen on average in fiscal 2013, which ends in March next year.

If minimum wages are raised in line with the proposal from a subcommittee of the Central Minimum Wages Council, this will mark the second straight year of a double-digit increase after a rise of 12 yen in fiscal 2012.

The full council, an advisory panel to the health, labor and welfare minister, is scheduled to meet Wednesday to finalize the proposal. New minimum wages will be adopted starting this autumn.