Monthly allowances for Japanese salarymen — a culturally specific, gender-based economic marker — fell to the lowest in 33 years even as the cost of lunch surged, showing the pinch felt by workers that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is counting on to drive a recovery in the economy.
Monthly spending money for male workers in Japan, often determined by wives who control family budgets, dropped to ¥37,642 (US$306), down 4.9 percent from last year, according to Shinsei Bank Ltd, a Tokyo-based lender with data dating back to 1979.
LUNCH AS LUXURY?
Salarymen spent ¥601 for lunch on average, up from ¥541, reflecting higher costs of food and an increased sales tax, the bank said.
The cut in allowances is bad news for Abe’s effort to end a deflationary mindset that has held back Japan’s economy.
With food prices rising, household budgets are under pressure. When cutbacks must be made, husbands’ allowances are often the first to be reduced and the last to recover, SMBC Nikko Securities Inc economist Koya Miyamae said.
“It is tough being a Japanese salaryman,” said Miyamae, whose allowance has not risen for at least the past few years.
“The sales-tax hike and inflation are putting households on the defensive. It will take at least another year for men to see an increase in their allowances,” he added.
AGE AND WAGE GAP
Older salarymen saw the biggest reductions. While allowances for men in their 20s and 30s remained about the same as last year, those for male workers in their 40s and 50s dropped by more than ¥4,000, as the cost of raising children and education weighed on household finances, Shinsei said.
Such workers spend an average ¥4,954 on a night out of drinking and tend to go out 2.4 times a month, the survey found.
Lunch is their largest expense, it said.
Japan’s overall consumer prices rose 2.9 percent in the fiscal year that ended in March, the most since 1990, according to statistics bureau. Wages have not kept up with rising living costs since April 2013.
The survey was conducted from April 15 to April 17.
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