On February 20, Career Connection, a leading customer review site, released a ranking of “the highest paying industries” which shows the average annual income for each industry. The ranking was made after a survey of the posts on the site about pay statements.
According to a survey published by the National Tax Agency, the average annual income is 5,320,000yen for men, 2,870,000yen for women, and 4,320,000yen when both genders are combined. You can see the top 10 below, and how it is different from industry to industry.
No. 1：Medical industry （Average of 6,510,000yen）
No. 2：Security industry （Average of 5,960,000yen）
No. 3：Electrical equipment industry （Average of 5,760,000yen）
No. 4：Mining industry （Average of 5,390,000yen）
No. 5：Transportation equipment industry （Average of 5,150,000yen）
No. 6：Non-ferrous metal industry （Average of 5,080,000yen）
No. 6：Oil／coal product industry （Average of 5,080,000yen）
No. 8：Rubber product industry （Average of 5,030,000yen）
No. 9：Chemical industry （Average of 4,930,000yen）
No. 10：Electrical and gas industry （Average of 4,920,000yen）
According to the survey results, medical industry positions ranked first place, whilst security industry positions came second. Though both are already known as high income industries, the reason why they came in as the top 2 is that there are many foreign-owned companies in these industries, which tend to pay even more than the Japanese companies.
Sales persons of pharmaceutical companies （MR） are especially known for their high income compared to other sales positions. Many payment statements over 10,000,000yen were posted by the users of Career Connection.
Although people associated with the security industry, came in 2nd in the ranking, the notorious stressful work environment has recently improved to some degree because of the latest work-style reforms. The data says that as of February 17, the average annual income is 6,950,000yen at Nomura Securities, and 5,090,000yen at Daiwa Securities. In contrary, at foreign-owned companies, it is 19,970,000yen at Goldman Sachs and 15,540,000yen at Barclays. There is a significant difference in the amounts of the income between Japanese-owned and foreign-owned companies.
Many industries related to natural resources such as mining, non-ferrous metal, and oil and coal product industries also made the top 10 in the ranking. The income is generally high in departments which require special skills related to technology or handling international business, and that seems to increase the average annual income in these industries.
Electrical equipment industry, came in 3rd in the ranking, and can be categorized into two groups, home appliances companies such as Panasonic, and heavy machinery companies such as Hitachi. Labor unions of most large electronic manufacturers have a strong influence on the employers to provide good benefits. Japanese companies in this industry also need to compete with foreign-owned companies like Keyence Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Japan, and IBM Japan, all renowned for their high pay.
On a side note, there is a possibility of the amount of income in the ranking deviating from the ones the companies officially release because the ranking was made based on users’ posts on Career Connection. However, the information can be considered more reliable since it is based on the real pay statements of the employees.
This ranking is useful information for those who are looking for a job, with the salary being one of the key factors in the process.
【Reference】Career Connection
【Reference】“The highest paying industries” released – medical industry ranked first place（customer review site, Career Connection）
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