The Japanese economy grew 1.9% in 2023, accelerating from a 1% expansion in 2022.
Rengo won wage increases of 5.3% for 2024, and smaller companies have averaged a raise of 4.42%. If inflation holds at 2% like it’s been early this year that will finally translate to real wage growth.
The Japanese Yen only had to lose ~20% of its value relative to the US dollar over the course of 2023 in order to boost exports and avoid a “technical recession”. What a miraculous achievement! Maybe they can avoid a technical recession through out 2024 by weakening the currency by another 20%. /s
For anyone who wants to verify this, type “JPYUSD” into Google to see the exchange rate between the Japanese Yen (JPY) and the US dollar (USD). Then click on “1Y” for the 1 year history, or “5Y” for the 5 year history.
The economy is looking more promising than a year ago or two years ago–wages are increasing both for part-timers and full-timers. I expect the streak of 23 consecutive months of real wage decline to end fairly soon.
Wow. .4 huh. Great.
Visiting Japan right now after being away almost two years. My observations are that there is clear inflation, but everywhere I’m looking — at least in Tokyo — I see building and industry at an amazing scale. Tourism is insane, I’ve never seen so many foreigners. If it’s near a recession, it’s hard to see.
All the talk of age growth seems like wishful thinking. Due to corp tax structure here, there’s very little incentive to offset high profits into wages, and thus, once dividends are paid, corps tend to dump everything into the bank and claim they need the loot horde for a rainy day. I’ll happily eat my words, but I’ve been here a very long time and never seen significant wage growth.
IAEA Task Force Releases Report on Regulatory Aspects of Water Discharge at Fukushima Daiichi https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/iaea-task-force-releases-report-on-regulatory-aspects-of-water-discharge-at-fukushima-daiichi
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The Japanese economy grew 1.9% in 2023, accelerating from a 1% expansion in 2022.
Rengo won wage increases of 5.3% for 2024, and smaller companies have averaged a raise of 4.42%. If inflation holds at 2% like it’s been early this year that will finally translate to real wage growth.
The Japanese Yen only had to lose ~20% of its value relative to the US dollar over the course of 2023 in order to boost exports and avoid a “technical recession”. What a miraculous achievement! Maybe they can avoid a technical recession through out 2024 by weakening the currency by another 20%. /s
For anyone who wants to verify this, type “JPYUSD” into Google to see the exchange rate between the Japanese Yen (JPY) and the US dollar (USD). Then click on “1Y” for the 1 year history, or “5Y” for the 5 year history.
The economy is looking more promising than a year ago or two years ago–wages are increasing both for part-timers and full-timers. I expect the streak of 23 consecutive months of real wage decline to end fairly soon.
Wow. .4 huh. Great.
Visiting Japan right now after being away almost two years. My observations are that there is clear inflation, but everywhere I’m looking — at least in Tokyo — I see building and industry at an amazing scale. Tourism is insane, I’ve never seen so many foreigners. If it’s near a recession, it’s hard to see.
All the talk of age growth seems like wishful thinking. Due to corp tax structure here, there’s very little incentive to offset high profits into wages, and thus, once dividends are paid, corps tend to dump everything into the bank and claim they need the loot horde for a rainy day. I’ll happily eat my words, but I’ve been here a very long time and never seen significant wage growth.
Great time to start working here I guess