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II. Income and Expenditures in Workers' Households
1. Income and Living Expenditures
(i) Income
Average monthly income per household in workers' households was 502,114 yen, which was 8.0% lower on a nominal basis (at an annual rate of 1.7%) and 5.0% lower on a real basis (at an annual rate of 1.0%) as compared to the 1999 survey. Disposable income per household after deducting taxes and other non-living expenditures was 425,513 yen, which was 6.3% lower on a nominal basis (at an annual rate of 1.3%) and 3.2% lower on a real basis (at an annual rate of 0.6%) as compared to the previous survey.
The real rate of increase/decrease in income per household, after rising at a pace of 3 - 5% annually up to 1974, slowed down and, in 2004, it decreased by 1.0% recording a minus figure for the first time since the start of the survey. (Table II-1, Figure II-1)
(ii) Living Expenditures
Average monthly living expenditures per household in workers' households was 339,212 yen, which was 3.8% lower on a nominal basis (at an annual rate of 0.8%) and 0.6% lower on a real basis (at an annual rate of 0.1%) as compared to the 1999 survey.
The real rate of increase/decrease in living expenditures per household, after rising at a pace of over 4% annually up to 1974, slowed down and, in 1999, it went into minus for the first time since the start of the survey. Living expenditures continued to decline in 2004. (Table II-1)
Table II-1: Changes in Average Monthly Income and Living Expenditures (Workers' Households)
Figure II-1: Annual Rates of Increase/Decrease of Average Monthly Income over Previous Survey
(Workers' Households)
(iii) Components of Income
Wages & salaries accounted for 91.9% of income and this ratio has not much changed since 1959.
After continuing to remain at the order of 80% up until 1974, the ratio of the wages & salaries earned by the household heads to total income declined until 1999 and recovered to 76.2% in 2004. On the other hand, the ratio of the wages & salaries earned by the spouses consistently increased from 1959 and reached 11.4% in 2004. (Table II-2)
Table II-2 Average Monthly Income by Type of Income (Workers' Households)
(iv) Income Distribution of Households
The distribution of households by size of cash income in workers' households (standard interval: 50,000 yen) indicates that about 60% (57.5%) of households fell short of the average income of all the households (502,114 yen).
The median value of income, which separates households into two groups at the middle, was 466,039 yen. Those households that had income of 400,000 yen or more to less than 450,000 yen formed the largest group accounting for 10.6% of workers' households. (Figure II-2)
Figure II-2: Distribution of Household by Class of Cash Income (Workers' Households)
Go to II-2. Average Propensity to Consume and Surplus Ratio
