According to a report on the Japanese Keizai Shimbun Chinese website on June 30, the salary increase of Japanese fresh graduates within 10 years after graduation has narrowed by more than 10% compared with 1990. With less discretionary money, their future life plans such as marri

( Observer Network News) "Wage increases have narrowed, social security burdens have increased, the pockets of Japanese young people are getting thinner, and more and more people cannot have children according to ideal conditions..."

According to Japan Economic News Chinese Network reported on June 30 that the salary increase of Japanese fresh graduates within 10 years after graduation has narrowed by more than 10% compared with 1990. With less money at their disposal, their future life plans such as marriage and childbirth have been affected. Upper shadow. The report believes that if economic growth is not increased as soon as possible to eliminate young people's anxiety about life, Japan's declining birth rate may further accelerate. The

report first conducted an analysis based on the basic statistics of the wage structure of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan. If the wage level of people aged 20 to 24 is regarded as 100, the wage level of people aged 30 to 34 in 1990 was 151.0, and that of people aged 30 to 34 in 2020 is only 129.4. This gain has narrowed by 14% over 30 years. The rise is also very slow between the ages of 50 and 59.

Image source: Nikkei Chinese website The same below

At the same time, the increasing burden of social security has further reduced the disposable income of young people. The calculation results of Hoshino Takuya of Japan's Dai-ichi Life Economic Research Institute show that the average actual disposable income of single men aged 20 to 29 in 2020 is 2.716 million yen (approximately RMB 134,000), which is higher than that in 1990 (3.187 million yen). Yuan, approximately RMB 157,000) decreased by 15%. During this period, the amount of social insurance premiums increased from 294,000 yen to 498,000 yen, which had a great impact on the reduction of disposable income. Take 1990 as an example, when bonuses did not require insurance premiums.

Takuya Hoshino said, “(Benefits) such as employee dormitories are also decreasing, and the gap between discretionary money and the previous period may be even greater.”

Even if compared internationally, the economic strength of Japanese young people is relatively weak. According to OECD data, the disposable income of people aged 26 to 40 in Japan is US$26,000, less than 60% of the United States (US$50,000), and lower than major European countries.

More and more young Japanese people are unable to actively plan their lives (marriage, childbirth, etc.). A 2015 survey by Japan's National Institute of Social Security and Population Studies showed that more than 40% of Japanese aged 18 to 34 believed that "marriage funds" are "an obstacle to getting married within one year." According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the number of marriage couples in Japan temporarily increased in 2019 due to the " Reiwa Marriage" (a wave of marriages caused by the change of era names), but then turned back to decrease. Only 500,000 couples will get married in 2021, setting a new record since World War II.

There are more and more people living in their parents’ homes during their teenage years. The proportion of unmarried people aged 35 to 44 living with their parents accounted for 16.3% in 2016, more than seven times that in 1980. Many young people choose a life without independence and light financial burden.

In Japan, where there are fewer children born out of wedlock, the decrease in the number of married couples will directly lead to a low birthrate. In 2021, Japan's total fertility rate (representing the number of children a woman has in her lifetime) was 1.30, declining for six consecutive years, with the number of births reaching 811,604, a record low. The slow economic recovery from the COVID-19 epidemic may also affect marriages, exacerbating the negative cycle.

At the same time, the number of births in some countries in the United States and Europe that are recovering rapidly has tended to recover. The number of births in the United States in 2021 will be approximately 3.66 million, returning to growth after 7 years. The total fertility rate also increased from 1.64 in the previous year to 1.66. The number of births in Germany is also expected to increase in 2021.

The Japanese do not lack the desire to have children. According to the 2015 survey results of the National Institute of Social Security and Population Studies, the average number of ideal children per couple is 2.32, while the actual number of children they plan to have is 2.01. The actual number of children born at the time of the survey was 1.68, which reflects the large gap between ideals and reality.

As for the reason why they cannot have children as per their ideal conditions, 77% of people under the age of 30 answered "because it is too expensive", and 81% of those aged 30 to 34 years old accounted for the highest proportion. The

report pointed out that Japan’s countermeasures against the declining birthrate focus on childbirth support such as child allowances, free childcare and promotion of parental leave. Takumi Fujinami, a senior researcher at the Japan Research Institute, believes that “the economic environment must first be improved by raising wages, etc.” and calls for a change in thinking.

Although the initial salary of fresh graduates in Japan is also tending to rise due to labor shortages and other reasons, it is still doubtful whether this can achieve stable income growth in the medium and long term. Takumi Fujinami of Nippon Research Institute said: "Today's younger generation is prone to low wages when doing ordinary jobs, and their income is lower than that of the previous generation." If the environment cannot be improved, the entire country will weaken.

The Japanese Senate election will be held on July 10. Measures to deal with the current rise in prices will become a major focus, and medium and long-term development strategies have not yet been widely discussed.

reports that Japan must not only solve its current problems, but also discuss core policies to improve its economy. Japan's social security system is prone to placing excessive burdens on young people, and reforms to enhance the sustainability of the social security system are urgent.

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