For one Japanese salaryman, nearly a decade of $4 annual pay rises

"After I retire from this company, I'll do anything I can get. Maybe work as a security guard."

Japanese accountant Masamitsu has not travelled or gone to the cinema in years and rarely eats out.

Qazet.az reports that  Instead, his annual salary of about $34,000 goes to support his family and has risen by just $4 a year for nearly a decade.

"I can't save, I have nothing at all put by for my old age. I'll just have to keep on working," said the 50-year-old, who declined to give his last name out of concern for his job at a small company that works in event planning.

"After I retire from this company, I'll do anything I can get. Maybe work as a security guard."

Masamitsu's plight mirrors that of many workers at small and medium-sized firms in Japan, where the average salary in 2020 was $38,515, little changed from the 1990s and well below the average of $49,165 in countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).