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4. Income and Expenditures of Households of Mother and Children
(i) Income
Average monthly income in the households of mother and children (the households of the mother and unmarried children under 18 years old) that form part of the workers' households was 217,676 yen. In contrast, income in the standard households (the households of married couple and two children with single income earned by the household head) was 452,098 yen and income in the former was 48.1%, or less than half, of that in the latter.
The gap between the income in the households of mother and children and that in the standard households, after showing a tendency to expand from 58.6% in 1979 to 46.1% in 1999, narrowed with the ratio standing at 48.1% in 2004. Moreover, a comparison of income with 1999 reveals that, while that in the standard households indicated a drop of 0.9%, income in the mother and children showed an increase of 3.4%.
The breakdown of income in the households of mother and children shows wages and salaries earned by the household head 191,881 yen (88.1% of income), social security benefits 16,684 yen (7.7% of income), and remittance including funds for bringing up the children & returns from assets 2,954 yen (1.4% of income). While the ratio of wages and salaries earned by the household head to income rose to 88.1% and was higher as compared to the 1999 survey, it was still lower when compare to 96.1% in the standard households. (Table IV-8)
Table IV-8: Changes in Average Monthly Income and Living Expenditures of Households of Mother and Children and Standard Households (Workers' Households)
(ii) Living Expenditures
Average monthly living expenditures in the households of mother and children was 191,309 yen. This corresponded to 61.4% of living expenditures in the standard households (311,506 yen). Compared with the 1999 survey, living expenditures in the former shows a decrease of 5.1% while living expenditures in the latter also exhibited a decline of 5.8% showing that decline in income was smaller in the households of mother and children. Moreover, the ratio of living expenditure in the households of mother and children to that in the standard households, after consistently decreasing from 1979 (69.1%) through 1999 (61.0%), rose to 61.4% in 2004.
Among various expenditure items, the ratios of food, housing, fuel, light and water charges and clothes & footwear in the households of mother and children were higher as compared to the standard households. In particular, the ratio of housing was conspicuously high reflecting the fact that homeownership in the former (31.4%) was much lower than that in the latter (65.6%).
The average propensity to consume in the households of mother and children (99.1%) was higher as compared to that in the standard households (81.6%). (Table IV-8, Figure IV-5)
Figure IV-5: Average Monthly Living Expenditures of Households of Mother and Children (Workers' Households)
Go to IV-5. Income and Expenditures of Households with Children Studying away from Home