The Economic Situation and Income Inequality among the Older People in Japan: Measurement by Quasi Public Assistance Standard
Atsuhiro YAMADA

This article examines the changing economic position of Japanese older people during half of the latest economic recession period (1989]1995), using micro data from the Comprehensive Survey of Living Condition of the People on Health and Welfare. The Quasi Public Assistance Standard (QPAS), which is based on the administrative minimum cost of living standard guaranteed by the Constitution, is applied as a benchmark and an equivalence scale. The growth of administrative minimum cost of living standard relative to other social security benefits, consumer price index and wage growth are also examined. Special attention is also paid to lone-parent households in the context of comparison with older households in the analysis. There are four main findings; (1) Income inequality among older households is higher among others, although the working income is generally main contributor for it, reflecting the high labour force participation rate of older people. (2) However, among single female older households, the main contributor to inequality is social transfer. (3) The below-QPAS proportion among single female older households exceeds 10% and is the highest among the older households, but this number is much lower than that of lone-parent households. (4) The growth rate of administrative minimum cost of living standard is higher than that of consumer price index, although lower than wage growth rate on average, but there are certain differences by household type and residential area. These findings suggest that how to precisely target on economically disadvantaged older households could be a key question for the next pension reform.

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