TOKYO: Less people in Japan are satisfied with their incomes than two years before amid rising prices, a government survey showed Friday.

The Cabinet Office survey found that the share of respondents who were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their incomes fell 3.5 percentage points from the previous 2022 survey to a record low of 31.4 pct.

The share of respondents who were dissatisfied or somewhat dissatisfied with their incomes rose 3.2 points to a record high of 68.0 pct.

The survey also found that a record low of 49.0 pct said they were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their overall living conditions.

The proportion of respondents feeling that their living conditions had deteriorated from the previous survey rose 3.3 points to 35.9 pct, while that of those feeling the opposite edged up 0.7 point to 5.4 pct.

With multiple answers allowed, the biggest proportion of respondents, 68.1 pct, cited the fight against inflation as an area that they wanted the government to focus more on, followed by 64.4 pct who chose promotion of economic growth, while 34.3 pct picked defense and national security.

The survey was conducted between Nov. 9 and Dec. 17 last year, covering 5,000 people aged 18 or over across the country. Valid answers came from 61.5 pct.

In an interview-based survey the Cabinet Office separately conducted on 3,000 others, 48.5 pct of 1,714 respondents who gave valid answers said they were satisfied with their incomes, while 50.0 pct said they were dissatisfied.

JIJI Press