As more and more companies are raising the starting salary for new graduates to 300,000 yen, the generation that lived through the employment ice age is lamenting. ■Ice Age Generation "Starting Salary is 170,000 yen" Audio distribution by Yuichiro Tamaki, president of the Democratic Party for the People (suspended from his position) "I want to recreate once again a society where you can trust that if you work hard, you can see the future and that if you work hard, you will be rewarded." On the 12th, Tamaki of the Democratic Party for the People spoke of his enthusiasm for this year, saying, "We want to create a society where if you work hard, you will be rewarded." Right at the start of the new year, the business world is bringing in good news about salaries. Tokio Marine & Nichido has decided to raise the starting salary for university graduates to a maximum of 410,000 yen from April next year. This will be the highest starting salary level at a major financial institution. Other major companies have also announced plans to raise starting salaries to 300,000 yen or more. President Tamaki (suspended from his position) "Rising wages is important now, and it's a critical time to see if we can really escape from deflation." On the other hand, there is a generation that strongly feels that their hard work has not been rewarded... From SNS, "New employees have a starting salary of 300,000 yen. 45-year-olds in the ice age have never received 300,000 yen. Will they adjust that?" "When I think of the new graduates who had to go through a very narrow gate after being pressured to get a starting salary of 180,000 yen after being told that there were plenty of people to replace them if they declined, the ice age is really harsh." "I had to desperately look for a job even if the starting salary was 170,000 yen. I was told that there were plenty of people to replace me, and the salary increase was a drop in the bucket." The ice age refers to the generation who had to find employment during the sudden deflationary period of the 1990s and 2000s after the collapse of the bubble economy. The number of new graduates recruited for this generation was limited. The employment rate of the ice age generation declined from the 1990s to the beginning of 2000, reaching an all-time low of 55.1% in 2003. Approximately 17 million people looked for jobs in a harsh employment environment, and many people are still unable to find stable employment. A woman in her 50s from the Ice Age Generation said, "We were in the middle of the Ice Age, and it was a time when it was difficult to choose a company based on salary." A woman in her 40s from the Ice Age Generation said, "(Q: At what age do you think you'd need to receive 300,000 yen?) I think it would take more than 10 years." ■Measures for the Ice Age Generation, both ruling and opposition parties Tamaki spoke about the difficult situation of the Ice Age Generation, which cannot be dismissed as self-responsibility. Representative Tamaki (suspended from office): "What will we do about their pensions, which they didn't pay enough into when they were young? This is a generation created by politics. Politics must take responsibility." After raising the 1.03 million yen barrier, he also said, "I want to put forward policies that address the problems of the Ice Age Generation." Regarding measures for the Ice Age Generation, the LDP wants to strengthen the system for learning specialized knowledge and skills. The Constitutional Democratic Party has set a goal of a comprehensive education system and a fundamental reform of contract and temporary employment so that people can work as regular employees. The regular Diet session starting on the 24th will focus on the "annual income barrier" and the budget proposal. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba emphasized that he would "provide a sincere explanation to the opposition parties." Prime Minister Ishiba: "I am not saying that I will swallow everything whole, but I would like to provide a sincere explanation so that supporters of the opposition parties and independents will believe that what the government is saying is reasonable." (From "Good! Morning" broadcast on January 13, 2025) [TV Asahi News] https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp