As many as 70% of people consider becoming a manager a “losing proposition,” amid the difficulty of raising salaries further. Japan’s salary levels are said to be approximately 40% of the U.S. average, while China’s are around half of the U.S. level.
The difficult realities facing managers in Japan, in terms of both pay and working conditions, are becoming increasingly clear. The percentage of respondents who said they did not want to become managers reached 76.7%, while 69.7% said they wanted a substantial increase in salary and bonuses.
According to wage structure data, monthly pay is ¥627.2 thousand at the department general manager level, ¥512 thousand at the section manager level, and ¥385.9 thousand at the subsection manager level, indicating a tendency for total income to rise as base pay increases.
In an international comparison, estimates indicate that the annual income of employees at Japanese companies around their third year after joining as new graduates is approximately 47% of the U.S. average, while the figure at the department general manager level is around 42%. This has prompted comments that wage levels in Japan are low compared with those in Europe and the United States.