Japan Press Weekly

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2014 November 19 - 25 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Abenomics has increased poverty and inequality in Japan: Gov’t data

In the two years since Prime Minister Abe Shinzo introduced his economic policy, Abenomics, what has been brought about is the increase in poverty and social inequality. This is obvious from various statistical data, including GDP, released by government authorities and private organizations.

The number of the working poor in Japan who earn less than two million yen a year increased by 300,000 to 11.2 million in the one year after Abenomics was implemented in 2012 (The National Tax Agency data on private sector workers’ wages).

Compared to the July-September quarter two years ago, the number of non-regular workers rose by 1.23 million to 19.52 million, while the number of full-time regular workers decreased by 220,000 to 33.27 million (The Internal Affairs Ministry’s labor force survey for July-September 2014).

In September, the real (inflation-adjusted) wage index marked a 3% on-year decline, falling for the 15th consecutive month (Labor Ministry’s monthly survey on working conditions released on November 18).

In 2014, the ratio of Japanese households with no financial assets went up to 30.4% from 26% in 2012 (Bank of Japan-related private organization’s recent survey results on household assets and liabilities).

Meanwhile, in the April-June quarter this year, profits earned by corporations with a capital of more than one billion yen amounted to more than 11 trillion yen, up four trillion yen compared with the same quarter in 2012 (Financial Ministry’s survey). On top of that, in Japan, the number of high-net-worth individuals with net assets of at least one million dollars will climb to 2.7 million this year (The Credit Suisse’s report on global wealth).