From our other sites
The story
A global ranking of average annual incomes placed Japan’s ¥5.19 million (about $34,660) at 24th place. The fact that Japan, once known as an economic powerhouse, has sunk to levels close to South Korea and Lithuania became a hot topic on 5ch. In the thread, the claim that “productivity is low, yet wages still aren’t rising” collided with the counterargument that “the drop in ranking is simply the weak yen at work,” and the discussion spread further into the gap between regular and non-regular employment, and the pros and cons of Japan’s lifetime employment system.
(Omitted)
Which country has the highest “average annual income” in the world?
Out of nowhere, here’s a simple question.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
The population just keeps shrinking — this country is declining exactly the way it's bound to.
Our productivity is low, is why.
It's insanely low, no question.
And on top of that, there's a mismatch between what's needed and the quality on offer.
In the US, some locations charge $17.60 (¥2,760) for a Big Mac
Households earning $45,000/year (¥7 million) have stopped going to McDonald's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emK1T_60H6g&t=135s
No wonder people stopped talking about the "Big Mac Index" lol
Also, the reality of a country called America falling apart
All of it testimony straight from locals
↓
American fast food is broken
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=htVW57MwHnk
Since 2020, everything's gone off the rails
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do8PuebNSyY
Seriously, the whole world has turned into one giant scam.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4rjA7KCpkg
By the Big Mac Index, Japan 🇯🇵😂 is now so poor it even loses to China
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HURYd3CbUAAlRad.jpg
Then hurry up and move to China for good.
Why don't you?
That's just because labor costs are dirt cheap there.
Was browsing Reddit and foreigners were mocking Japan, saying it's now a country that can't even out-earn China. Brought tears to my eyes.
https://www.reddit.com/r/teachinginjapan/s/ufR924PzcT
18th New Zealand
19th France
20th Slovenia
21st Spain
22nd Italy
23rd South Korea
24th Lithuania
25th Japan
26th Estonia
27th Bulgaria
28th Czech Republic
29th Portugal
30th Latvia
It's only falling because of the weak yen.
Enjoy gloating while it lasts.
A country that's just got a lot of people in it, that's all.
Though keep that up and Southeast Asia will probably overtake us before long.
Vietnam and Thailand will probably pass us within a few years.
That's how far we've declined.
Apparently Switzerland's median annual income is ¥16.8 million.
Wouldn't that make the gap even bigger lol
Knowing the facts matters, doesn't it?
Switzerland is nuts…
Average annual income for non-regular employees: ¥2.06 million
That's according to a Mitsubishi UFJ survey.
This gap between regular and non-regular employment is the worst in the OECD, and this dual labor structure is one of the reasons Japan is declining.
It needs fixing, urgently.
Well, obviously.
As Re: #139 also shows, Japan's dual labor structure is about the worst in the world.
That's exactly why Japan's economy isn't growing.
Can you actually explain why the dual labor structure is causing Japan's decline?
It's because of membership-style employment (lifetime employment), which Japan is the only country in the world still doing.
Every other country runs on job-based employment.
What Takenaka (the economist) says is right.
So when business turns bad, they cut back hiring and lean on outsourcing instead, since that's easy to cut loose.
And that outsourcing just feeds a chain of middlemen skimming their cut.
Honestly a garbage country.
I doubt Japan is even capable of reforming itself at this point — it's just going to ride this out to wherever it ends up.
But it's exactly that mindset — wages won't drop, you won't get fired that easily — that let people take out ¥40-50 million mortgages in the first place.
(This matters a lot more now that the yen is weak)
Obviously, Americans are paid in dollars and pay their living expenses in dollars.
Whether the exchange rate is ¥110 or ¥150 to the dollar, the local "value of a dollar" and their purchasing power there doesn't suddenly change.
When the yen weakens, it's only the yen-converted income figure that jumps — it doesn't mean Americans are actually getting richer.
In real terms wages are rising over there, so that's not true.
So basically the only difference between Japan's income and other countries' comes down to the gap in real wage growth rates, right?
Wonder what percentage that is.
Same as point 1 — prices (in real terms) don't change.
In other words, the weak yen just means we're losing out when we buy things — our real earnings are shrinking.
You'll come back thinking Japan is still a developed country after all.
You really do love looking down on others, huh.
Don't worry, we'll get overtaken sooner than you think.
Back in the Edo period, people used to vent with the saying: don't live looking up at those above you, live looking down at those below you.
Japan's pretty much the same, lol.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
This kind of “global average income ranking” compares each country’s figures after converting them into dollars, so the rankings tend to swing a lot just from exchange-rate movements. In the thread, the view that “the numbers are only sinking because of the weak yen” sat right alongside the view that “Japan’s labor productivity is simply low to begin with” — both touch on part of the truth, which is why opinions split. The income gap between regular and non-regular employees, and the idea that Japan’s distinctive membership-style (lifetime) employment system is holding wage growth back, are also arguments long raised in labor economics, and this thread’s discussion is really an extension of that same debate. The ranking numbers alone are easy to read at a glance, but it’s worth noting that two separate issues — “apparent swings from currency conversion” and “the real disparities produced by Japan’s domestic employment structure” — are being talked about as if they were the same thing within this single ranking.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “[Global Average Income] Japan’s Average Annual Income of “¥5.19 Million” Ranks 24th in the World!? The Real State of Pay Around the Globe.”
Leave a Reply