>Japanese salarymen are worse paid than FTEs in almost any highly developed economy.
I find this obsession with instantaneous salary to be odd. In my mind, you're best off working toward total lifetime earnings, optimizing for stability. Sure it's nice to be making six figures at some startup. But that means nothing over a 10 year period interspersed with layoffs and periods of unemployment. As an American, I'd take the salaryman deal any day of the week over making a bit more and waking up every single day wondering if I'll be fired.
You mean like that employee Justin Moore that was fired by Google after 16 years throuhg an automated e-mail? [0] Or like that guy on reddit that lost 20 years of life-savings in just 5 months because their spouse got cancer?[1] Also current generations saw the retirement age go from 60 in 1995 to 67 and if Republicans get their way it will be 70 or higher, less than a decade shy of the average death age. Please, people would optimize for stability if it looked like a feasiable goal, but at this point is just a fantasy like Santa Claus, I'm glad that it has worked this far for you but don't assume other people could be so lucky.
What is instantaneous salary? Seems like a contradiction. Saying that making a decent wage "means nothing" in the long run is just plain wrong. Higher earning, especially early in one's career has massive financial impact down the road. White collar jobs are actually really stable, and during recessions you see a lot of blue collar work tank(such as jobs in the service industry). Obviously this could change and we are currently going through some of that but if you're waking up every morning for the past 10 years wondering if you'll be fired, that seems to be a bit irrational(unless you're actively doing something that will get you fired).
You romanticize the salaryman title, but I am not sure you know what the actual lifestyle is...for most people in developed countries outside of Japan, working 12-14+ hours for low pay is not a good "deal".
1. I think you're overestimating the amount of time the average US worker will spend laid off.
2. If you're worried about being laid off the best thing you can do is build an emergency savings account. It seems perfectly reasonable to have 3-6 months of expenses in a "break in case of emergency" type of account. What is your plan if you are fired, or if you car breaks down, or if you have unexpected medical expenses? Savings keeps you safe.
3. The total lifetime earnings of a US office worker is higher than a Japanese office worker for the same time of work, in most professions. We are optimizing for lifetime earnings.
4. The term "Salaryman" is associated with long work hours and an unhealthy lifestyle, even worse of a woke-life balance than is offered in US.
I find this obsession with instantaneous salary to be odd. In my mind, you're best off working toward total lifetime earnings, optimizing for stability. Sure it's nice to be making six figures at some startup. But that means nothing over a 10 year period interspersed with layoffs and periods of unemployment. As an American, I'd take the salaryman deal any day of the week over making a bit more and waking up every single day wondering if I'll be fired.