Avg. dual-income of 7 mil. yen among households feeling financial strain, survey

Nearly half of Japan’s dual-income households said they are feeling the strain financially, according to the results of a recent survey. 

The survey looking at attitudes toward work and personal life among regular employees aged 20-59, carried out by job-search website operator Mynavi Corp., showed that 46.1 percent of dual-income households in Japan are in financial difficulty. (“Regular employee” refers to people in Japan employed as “seishain” - regular, full-time employment typically regarded as the most stable and high-status form of employment in Japan.)

According to the survey, the average annual income for those dual-income households feeling the strain is around 7.1 million yen, compared to around 8.8 million yen for those dual-income households not in difficulty. A difference of around 1.7 million yen. 

The average personal annual income among those respondents in dual-income households who said that their household finances were under strain was just over 5 million yen. In these households the average personal annual income among males was around 5.7 million yen while among females it was around 3.5 million yen.

Among those respondents in dual-income households who said they are not facing financial difficulties, average personal annual income was around 5.8 million yen with averages of 6.6 million yen and 4.4 million yen among males and females respectively. 

“The survey found that around half of regular employees in dual-income households feel that they are struggling financially. With real wages having continued to shrink over consecutive years, the importance of wage increases is being realized,” a researcher from Mynavi Career Research Lab commented. 

While the results of the Mynavi survey showed that all dual-income households see an annual income of around 11 million yen as ideal, levels of work-personal life satisfaction were found to be highest among male respondents with a personal income of around 9 million yen and female respondents with an income of around 4 million yen. 

Beyond this however, the survey showed that levels of work-personal life satisfaction stopped correlating with increasing income.  

“After annual income increases to a certain level, it is expected that the influence of other factors such as career satisfaction and self-efficacy take precedence,” the researcher said. 

The results of the Mynavi survey come after reports that Japanese firms have agreed to wage increases averaging 5.28 percent following negotiations with labor unions, marking the first time since 1994 for increases to top 5 percent.  

The Japanese government has been calling for business leaders to increase wages as households have felt the strain from continuing price hikes on daily items. 

The Mynavi survey was carried out online last November, gathering 3,000 valid responses.

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