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The labor shortage in Japan is at its highest in more than four decades, according to new government data. Low birth rates and an aging population have resulted in a shrinking workforce.
There are currently 1.48 jobs for every applicant, the highest figure since 1974 when fast growth drove the ratio to 1.53. The data outpaces the labor shortage peak in the early 1990s, during the country's period of economic stagnation.
[...] The analyst said the number of women and older people who have been joining the labor force has increased, as "the labor shortage is forcing companies to hire people who previously weren't looking for work."
Source: RT
[T]he number of families living on an income lower than the public welfare assistance level more than doubled in the 20 years after the asset price bubble popped in 1992, according to a study by Kensaku Tomuro of Yamagata University.
Now 16 percent of Japanese children live below the poverty line, according to Health Ministry statistics, but among single-parent families, the rate hits 55 percent. Poverty rates in Osaka are among the worst.
[...] Children of single or poor parents often are ostracized in their communities, Tokumaru said, noting that other parents do not want their children playing with children from a "bad house."
Source: The Washington Post
(Score: 3, Insightful) by zocalo on Wednesday May 31 2017, @12:54PM (5 children)
Maybe the root cause of the poverty problem is more simple though; they have a population skewed heavily towards the older generations, with more and more living on post-retirement welfare funded by taxes paid by a shrinking workforce as it ages out due to more retirees each year than new workers. Presumably that means ever higher taxes to support all the social services required, plus any additional expenses to make up for the inevitable shortfall in social security for parents/grandparents, meaning that there just isn't enough money left to get families above the poverty line.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MostCynical on Wednesday May 31 2017, @01:08PM (3 children)
The country is expected to lose more than one-third of its population by 2060, according to one article I read.
So.. no real estate capital gains, no housing pressure, and a falling GDP and tax base.
They can't jack up export prices, or people won't buy (especially with competition from Indonesia and China)
Wages can't go anywhere but down, with decreasing local demand for goods and services from the decreasing population and the decreasing wages (yay, feedback loop)...Add those increasing taxes, and even people working in "good" jobs will eventually fall below the povery line.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday May 31 2017, @01:18PM
In other words, falling cost of living. This sort of environment boosts wages relative to the cost of living rather than the other way around.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by shrewdsheep on Wednesday May 31 2017, @02:25PM (1 child)
That's a common fallacy. Falling GDP does not imply falling wages. Wages are related to productivity and demand/supply. Both factors are favoring higher wages in Western countries in the long run.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 31 2017, @07:43PM
Agree that falling GDP does not necessitate falling wages, but wages haven't been following productivity to any meaningful degree for decades.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday May 31 2017, @01:20PM
I read a traditional American article on that narrative just yesterday, I think it was Reuters or a link to some place in Wisconsin.
Anyway the narrative was boating season starts Memorial Day for many people and boats can't get fixed because during the great recession so many powerboat mechanics quit the field and now there's great high paying jobs that no one will sign up for.
However, in more detail, the article claims high paying so I'm thinking its like my retired stationary diesel mechanic cousin who pulled in $150K/yr because he had 40 yrs experience and worked a lot of overtime, but the guy who fixes outboard boat motors "might get up to $50/yr" which in journalist talk means they found one small business owner who had one amazing year once in the 80s and never gain, so the reality in the comments is a new employee at an average employer might take home as much as $30K before paying for his tools and education. And of course the tech schools have a year long training program that costs $15K total. And the manufacturers charge thousands for brand specific training that may or may not be required for your job.
So the reality is you need one year of life expenses in the bank plus $15K and a huge amount of dedication and then pay is so bad you'll earn less than working at McDonalds.
Needless to say the only outboard motor mechanics left in the field are crazy or too lazy to get a higher paying job or have interesting work history problems preventing them from getting a real job or have wedged themselves into the even smaller subsector of high paying work (I donno racing boat support or historical restoration work maybe)
There's nobody dumb enough and rich enough to become an outboard motor mechanic for $14/hr or less and thats somehow a crisis.
Meanwhile using typical shop formulas like "triple the labor cost for the customer" none of the customers can afford work done by a $30/hr mechanic because they can't pay $100/hr while working at menial labor because their job went away.
The general impression I got from the comments is the whole powerboating thing much like RV life is to suck the last financial blood out of the rich white boomers and when they're gone the whole industry is going away with them. Also like mcmansion construction, or mall womens clothing stores, or major league baseball, for other examples of once the boomers are gone the country is going to be too poor to support the existing industry so its all going away.