You’re fresh out of college and want to know what you can earn straight out of university in Japan? Or, do you want to know what the salary expectations are for recent grads? Check out this blog post for salaries for fresh engineers in Japan.
Introduction
A person working as an Engineer in Japan typically earns around 489,000 JPY per month. Salaries range from 225,000 JPY (lowest) to 777,000 JPY (highest).
This is the average monthly salary including housing, transport, and other benefits. Engineer salaries vary drastically based on experience, skills, gender, or location. Below you will find a detailed breakdown based on many different criteria
The median, the maximum, the minimum, and the range
- Salary RangeEngineer salaries in Japan range from 225,000 JPY per month (minimum salary) to 777,000 JPY per month (maximum salary).
- Median SalaryThe median salary is 528,000 JPY per month, which means that half (50%) of people working as Engineer(s) are earning less than 528,000 JPY while the other half are earning more than 528,000 JPY. The median represents the middle salary value. Generally speaking, you would want to be on the right side of the graph with the group earning more than the median salary.
- PercentilesClosely related to the median are two values: the 25th and the 75th percentiles. Reading from the salary distribution diagram, 25% of Engineer(s) are earning less than 339,000 JPY while 75% of them are earning more than 339,000 JPY. Also from the diagram, 75% of Engineer(s) are earning less than 704,000 JPY while 25% are earning more than 704,000 JPY.
How does experience and age affect your pay?
The experience level is the most important factor in determining the salary. Naturally the more years of experience the higher your wage. We broke down Engineer salaries by experience level and this is what we found.
An Engineer with less than two years of experience makes approximately 255,000 JPY per month.
While someone with an experience level between two and five years is expected to earn 341,000 JPY per month, 34% more than someone with less than two year’s experience.
Moving forward, an experience level between five and ten years lands a salary of 503,000 JPY per month, 48% more than someone with two to five years of experience.
Additionally, Engineer(s) whose expertise span anywhere between ten and fifteen years get a salary equivalent to 614,000 JPY per month, 22% more than someone with five to ten years of experience.
If the experience level is between fifteen and twenty years, then the expected wage is 669,000 JPY per month, 9% more than someone with ten to fifteen years of experience.
Lastly, employees with more than twenty years of professional experience get a salary of 724,000 JPY per month, 8% more than people with fifteen to twenty years of experience.
How do education levels affect salaries?
We all know that higher education equals a bigger salary, but how much more money can a degree add to your income? We broke down Engineer salaries by education level in order to make a comparison.
When the education level is Bachelor’s Degree, the average salary of an Engineer is 296,000 JPY per month.
While someone with a Master’s Degree gets a salary of 572,000 JPY per month, 93% more than someone having a Bachelor’s Degree degree.
A Master’s degree program or any post-graduate program in Japan costs anywhere from 2,570,000 Yen(s) to 7,720,000 Yen(s) and lasts approximately two years. That is quite an investment.
You can’t really expect any salary increases during the study period, assuming you already have a job. In most cases, a salary review is conducted once education is completed and the degree has been attained.
Many people pursue higher education as a tactic to switch into a higher paying job. The numbers seem to support the thoery. The average increase in compensation while changing jobs is approximately 10% more than the customary salary increment.
If you can afford the costs of higher education, the return on investment is definitely worth it. You should be able to recover the costs in roughly a year or so.
Engineer Average Annual Salary Increment Percentage in Japan
How much are annual salary increments in Japan for Engineer(s)? How often do employees get salary raises?
Engineer
Engineer(s) in Japan are likely to observe a salary increase of approximately 11% every 16 months. The national average annual increment for all professions combined is 8% granted to employees every 16 months.
Conclusion
Still, this statistic shows that there is a lot of potential job market in engineering field. This indicates that the engineering field is one the growing fields in Japan.
