Japanese Women Cut Salaryman's Allowance to least in 30 years

Japanese men have seen allowances wither to the least in three decades as their wives pare household spending in an economy mired in deflation.

Known in Japan as salarymen, the workers receive 36,500 yen ($452) per month for pocket money, amounting to $15 a day and the smallest amount since 1982, according to a survey by Shinsei Financial Co. released today. Japanese wives typically manage their husbands’ earnings.

Japan’s growth of less than 1 percent per year in the past 10 years has crimped pay, forcing housewives to cut back on pocket money and exacerbating the deflation that has plagued the economy for more than a decade. Wages have been dropping since the March 11 earthquake and household sentiment is near a two- year low, making a consumer-driven economic rebound less likely.

“This makes me a little sad,” said Hiroshi Miyazaki, chief economist at Shinkin Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “It’s a result of a very long period of deflation. Unfortunately, this trend’s going to continue.”

Workers’ allowances peaked in 1990 at the height of the country’s asset and real-estate bubble, with men receiving a monthly 76,000 yen, more than double what they get today, according to the survey. Respondents in today’s report said they spend the greatest proportion of the money on lunch, dispensing an average 490 yen. That matches the price of a double cheeseburger with small fries and a drink at McDonald’s.

“People are becoming increasingly austere in their attitudes toward money,” Shinsei said in the report. It has been conducting the survey since 1979, covering responses from about 1,000 men between their 20s and 50s.

To save money, workers said they bring their own lunch to work and eat out less. Men ate out 2.9 times a month after work and spent an average 3,540 yen each time, according to the survey. That compares with more than 6,000 yen in 2009.

Pub chain Watami Co. is among businesses taking the hit from consumers’ intensifying drive to spend less. The company’s same-store sales dropped 6.4 percent in May from a year earlier, marking the fifth straight month of declines.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-27/japan-s-men-survive-on-15-a-day-as-wives-tighten-purse-strings.html