Japan's Ice-Age Generation Faces Stagnant Wages and Income Decline

Workers in Japan's Generation X, known as the ice-age generation, continue to face severe economic instability marked by stagnant wages and falling incomes. In Tokyo, long-term employees report that their earnings have decreased following employer-led bonus cuts and the implementation of restructured pay schemes.

This financial decline is exacerbated by a widening wage gap within the corporate sector. Companies are increasingly offering higher starting salaries to new recruits than to the veteran workers of the Gen X cohort, leaving the older generation with diminished purchasing power and persistent economic struggle.