$Who Earns What

How much does a office clerk make in Japan?

General Clerks

Answer: The average office clerk in Japan makes $36,093 (¥5.41M) a year (monthly pay × 12 plus bonus, 2025, Japan's Basic Survey on Wage Structure).

Average yearly pay of people doing this job in Japan
$36,093 (¥5.41M)

Monthly pay $2,377 × 12 + bonus $7,573. Average age 44.6; about 1.3 million people work in this job. About the same as the Japan-wide average ($33,720).

Office clerk pay in Japan (2025, averages by company size and sex)

Office clerk pay in Japan (2025, averages by company size and sex) — Data: MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025
Company sizeEveryoneMenWomenAge
Any size$36,093$44,983$29,80644.6
Big company$43,303$52,573$34,15444.3
Mid-size$33,597$39,705$29,17543.6
Small company$27,973$33,784$25,70946.3

Why does pay differ?

In Japan, pay can differ with experience, company size and industry, and location. Computer, bookkeeping, or language skills—and useful certificates—can help someone take on specialized tasks, while regular, part-time, or dispatched work, hours, and overtime also matter.

What if you were…

In Japan, age and company size matter most

Pick a company size, sex or age to see that group's average here.

How it changes with age

Tap an age to update the number above (Any company size, men and women combined)

How it changes with company size

Any size$36,093
Big company$43,303
Mid-size$33,597
Small company$27,973
Men$44,983
Women$29,806

What does a office clerk do?

What's a typical day like?

In a Japanese office, a clerk may start by checking email, then enter purchase records and check invoices. After lunch, they might update sales records, join a sales meeting, and finish leftover office tasks.

How to get this job

In Japan, no specific school degree, exam, or license is required for general clerical work. People can apply for jobs after school and build experience with support tasks; PC, writing, bookkeeping, or optional MOS and secretary skills can help.

Did you know?

At one Japanese manufacturer, a clerk joined sales meetings and helped spot what customers wanted—not just file papers.

What about the US?

Nearly the same job
Office clerk (average)
$36,093
US
Office clerk (typical)
$45,010

Japan's figure is the average and the US figure is the median. Prices and exchange rates matter too, so it's a rough comparison.

Similar jobs

Office, sales and retail jobs

Earn more in the same field

Office, sales and retail jobs that pay a bit more

Sources and data

Source: MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025 (regular workers, by occupation) (e-Stat). Yearly pay = monthly contractual cash earnings × 12 + annual bonus. Averages for regular workers at firms with 10+ employees. Public employees (teachers, police, firefighters) and company executives are not in this survey. e-stat.go.jp

Pages used for the text

Data: MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025 · 1 USD = 150 JPY