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Japan has the world's most aged population. To examine this aging population from a theoretical perspective of social stratification, we focused on household structure, income structure, and economic well-being, including both disposable income and savings. Two main topics are discussed in this paper: first, the relationship between the aging population and income inequality, focusing on changes in household structure and income structure; and second, the level of economic well-being in old age (when the relationship to the labor market becomes blurred) considering individuals' previous work life. I analyzed two survey datasets: the Comprehensive Survey of People's Living Conditions, conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare since the mid-1980s, and the 2015 National Survey of Social Stratification and Social Mobility. These analyses confirmed that the change in household structure (more elderly heads of household) explains the growth of income inequality since the mid-1980s. While income inequality among households with working-age heads increased, its impact was limited to an overall increase in income inequality due to declining household size. On the other hand, income inequality among households with older heads was largely explained by market income, and this scenario has not changed for the past 30 years. The level of economic well-being among older adults was determined by age, marital status, educational credentials, and work situation at age 50 for both genders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single mothers' relatively high levels of poverty are well documented, but the role that intergenerational coresidence may play in mitigating this disadvantage is not well understood. In this paper, we use multiple rounds of a large national survey between 1986 and 2007 (n = 67,252) to evaluate the extent to which income sharing via intergenerational coresidence limits poverty among single mothers in Japan. Results indicate that conventional poverty rates based on single-mother households overstate the prevalence of poverty among single mothers by 12–20 percent as a result of excluding those who are coresiding with parents. We find no evidence that the prevalence of intergenerational coresidence has changed in a way that would offset the poverty-increasing effect of growth in single parenthood. Finally, we show not only that shared income is the most important factor in limiting poverty among single mothers living with parents, but also that many single mothers are coresiding with parents who are themselves economically disadvantaged. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding relationships between rapid family change and poverty in countries like Japan, where public income support for single mothers is limited and where family support via intergenerational coresidence is both common and normative. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines cross-national differences in gender earnings gaps in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. It applies an extended model of the gender gap decomposition method, and tests four hypotheses, each of which focuses on a different possible source of the cross-national difference in gender gap. The decomposition results support the hypothesis emphasizing the cross-national difference in the distribution of males and females and the hypothesis emphasizing the difference in pay discrimination; the results do not support the hypothesis that the differences occur because of cross-national differences in females’ human capital. The main reasons for the larger gender earnings gaps in Japan and Korea than in Taiwan are higher segregation by gender and higher degrees of within-job pay discrimination in Japan and Korea. Despite similarities in welfare policies toward women, the difference in employment practices creates a substantial intra-regional variation in gender pay inequality in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines class consciousness and class identification in Japan in terms of income and social inequalities. Data is presented from social surveys taken in that country from 1995-2005 to support the contention that the number of persons in Japan who identify themselves as middle class is not necessarily higher than in many other developing countries. There is also a significant age difference in class attitudes, with older people more likely to identify themselves as middle class. This is attributed to a decline in incomes among young adults.

This study examines the degree of sex segregation in the Japanese occupational structure from a comparative perspective with the British and American societies. Contrary to the expecta tion that Japan is a traditional society as far as the status of women in the labor market is concerned, the overall degree of sex segregation in Japan is smaller than it is in Great Britain and the United States. The low degree of sex segregation may be explained by two factors: (1) relatively smaller shares of managerial and service occupations in which men and women respectively are over-represented, and (2) more equal sex composition in clerical, blue-collar production process, and agricultural occupations. Opportunities for part-time work seem to further reduce the sex segregation index in Japan, unlike in Britain and the United States, because many Japanese female part-time workers are engaged in blue-collar occupations rather than white-collar occupations. However, gender inequality in the Japanese labor market is probably manifested in the form of access to authority in the workplace, employment status, and full-time/part-time distinction within occupations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines the degree of sex segregation in the Japanese occupational structure from a comparative perspective with the British and American societies. Contrary to the expectation that Japan is a traditional society as far as the status of women in the labor market is concerned, the overall degree of sex segregation in Japan is smaller than it is in Great Britain and the United States. The low degree of sex segregation maybe explained by two factors: (1) relatively smaller shares of managerial and service occupations in which men and women respectively are over-represented, and (2) more equal sex composition in clerical, blue-collar production process, and agricultural occupations. Opportunities for part-time work seem to further reduce the sex segregation index in Japan, unlike in Britain and the United States, because many Japanese female part-time workers are engaged in blue-collar occupations rather than white-collar occupations. However, gender inequality in the Japanese labor market is probably manifested in the form of access to authority in the workplace, employment status, and full-time/part-time distinction within occupations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]