Comments on: Japan’s Income Inequality, International Comparison

By: Jenny Coefficient

Jenny Coefficient — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:06:31 +0000

Blame the freeters. Over 20% of workers now work part-time (supposedly approaching 30% in the near future), living on an average of something like US$1500 a month (roughly 130,000) yen. However, income inequality in Japan is something of a different beast, due to the ageing population, and the fact that most freeters live with their parents until their 30s/40s/forever. Given Japan’s penchant for lifelong employment, once they reach a certain age they’ve little chance of getting a ‘proper job’. They remain, in effect, children for life.

By: apeescape

apeescape — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:06:37 +0000

The contradiction occurs when the Gini is moderate-to-high whereas the top:bottom earner ratio is low. I don’t think I’ve sufficiently explored the issue, so I’m more hypothesizing than concluding. The next step for me would be to look at the inequality for [non-]regular workers and the inequality wrt age.

By: Joshua Zimmerman

Joshua Zimmerman — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:30:29 +0000

I wonder if this has something to do with the concept of Life Time Employment and the responsibility of companies to take care of their workers?