Employment ice age generation
Japanese people who looked for their first jobs between about 1993 and 2004, after the bubble burst. The Japanese government defines the group by that job-hunting period.
| Birth years used on this page | 1971–1982 |
| Age in 2026 (after birthday) | 44–55 |
| Births in those years | 21,623,743 |
| Peak year | 1973 (2,091,983) |
Who are they?
After Japan's bubble burst, companies cut hiring sharply. People who left school and hunted for jobs in those years often could not find the work they wanted, and many stayed in non-regular jobs. They are called the shushoku hyogaki sedai, the "employment ice age generation", and sometimes the "lost generation".
The government defines the group by when people looked for work, not by birth year. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare describes it as people who job-hunted around 1993–2004, and the Cabinet Secretariat targets support at people who job-hunted during the hard years of 1993–2004.
In birth years, the range shifts depending on whether people started work after high school or after university. This page counts people born 1971–1982, whose final year of university (age 22) fell in 1993–2004. For high school graduates, the matching births are roughly 1975–1986.
Definition sources (in Japanese): 厚生労働省「中高年の活躍支援」(「平成5年(1993年)〜平成16年(2004年)頃に就職活動を行っていた方々を就職氷河期世代と言います」) / 内閣官房 就職氷河期世代支援推進室「就職氷河期世代等の支援について」(2025年4月25日)
What they lived through, and at what age
Ages are for people born 1971–1982 (the age they turned that year; those not yet born are left out).
| Year | Event | Age |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Okinawa returns to Japan; ties with China normalized | 0–1 |
| 1978 | Narita Airport opens | 0–7 |
| 1985 | The Plaza Accord | 3–14 |
| 1986 | Equal Employment Opportunity Act takes effect | 4–15 |
| 1987 | Japanese National Railways is privatized | 5–16 |
| 1989 | Showa ends, Heisei begins | 7–18 |
| 1990 | The national university entrance test begins | 8–19 |
| 1990 | Stock prices crash; property lending curbed | 8–19 |
| 1991 | The Gulf War and the fall of the Soviet Union | 9–20 |
| 1993 | The employment ice age begins | 11–22 |
| 1995 | The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake | 13–24 |
| 1997 | Consumption tax rises to 5%; major financial firms fail | 15–26 |
| 2001 | The September 11 attacks | 19–30 |
| 2002 | Japan and Korea host the World Cup | 20–31 |
| 2004 | The Chuetsu earthquake in Niigata | 22–33 |
| 2008 | Smartphones arrive | 26–37 |
| 2008 | The 2008 global financial crisis | 26–37 |
| 2009 | Lay judges introduced; change of government | 27–38 |
| 2011 | Switch to digital TV | 29–40 |
| 2011 | The Great East Japan Earthquake | 29–40 |
| 2014 | Consumption tax rises to 8% | 32–43 |
| 2016 | The Kumamoto earthquakes | 34–45 |
| 2016 | Voting age lowered to 18 | 34–45 |
| 2019 | Heisei ends, Reiwa begins | 37–48 |
| 2020 | The COVID-19 pandemic | 38–49 |
| 2021 | The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics | 39–50 |
| 2022 | Age of adulthood lowered to 18; war in Ukraine | 40–51 |
| 2023 | COVID-19 downgraded to a common infectious disease | 41–52 |
| 2024 | The Noto Peninsula earthquake; new banknotes | 42–53 |
| 2025 | Expo 2025 in Osaka | 43–54 |
Public statistics
| Born | Births | University entry rate when they turned 18* | Jobs-to-applicants ratio at 17–18** | at 21–22** |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 2,000,973 | 24.4% | 1.25 | 0.76 |
| 1972 | 2,038,682 | 25.4% | 1.40 | 0.64 |
| 1973 | 2,091,983 | 26.3% | 1.40 | 0.63 |
| 1974 | 2,029,989 | 27.9% | 1.08 | 0.70 |
| 1975 | 1,901,440 | 30.0% | 0.76 | 0.72 |
| 1976 | 1,832,617 | 31.9% | 0.64 | 0.53 |
| 1977 | 1,755,100 | 33.3% | 0.63 | 0.48 |
| 1978 | 1,708,643 | 34.8% | 0.70 | 0.59 |
| 1979 | 1,642,580 | 36.3% | 0.72 | 0.59 |
| 1980 | 1,576,889 | 38.0% | 0.53 | 0.54 |
| 1981 | 1,529,455 | 39.5% | 0.48 | 0.64 |
| 1982 | 1,515,392 | 39.8% | 0.59 | 0.83 |
21,623,743 babies were born in Japan in 1971–1982, peaking at 2,091,983 in 1973. When they turned 18, the university entry rate was 24.4–39.8% (33.3–47.2% for men, 15.1–32.5% for women). In the year they were in their last year of university, the jobs-to-applicants ratio ranged from 0.48 to 0.83 (1.0 means one opening per job seeker).
Government support and where they are now
According to the Cabinet Secretariat, the government set up a three-year intensive support program for this generation in fiscal 2020–22, followed by a "second stage" in 2023–24. Citing the Labour Force Survey, the same document reports that among the core of the generation (aged 36–45 in 2019, 41–50 in 2024), regular employees rose from 9.23 million (2019 average) to 9.34 million (2024 average), and involuntary non-regular workers fell from 460,000 to 350,000.
Source (in Japanese): 内閣官房「就職氷河期世代等の支援について」2025年4月25日(出典: 総務省「労働力調査」)
Game simulation: 1,500 lives
We ran 1,500 lives in the Born in Japan simulator for people born 1971–1982, choosing birth years in proportion to actual births and leaving every decision on default. These are game estimates, not statistics.
| Item | Simulation |
|---|---|
| Average age at death | 83.4 years |
| Graduate from university or grad school | 41% |
| Ever married by 50 (of those alive at 50) | 73.4% |
| Regular (full-time) employee at 30 | 66.8% |
| Living in an owned home at 60 | 43.8% |
| Average number of children | 1.48 |
| Lifetime gross earnings, men (median) | ¥205 million |
| Lifetime gross earnings, women (median) | ¥127 million |
| Net worth at 65 incl. home (median) | ¥23 million |
The game's "Employment ice age generation" is also born 1971–1982, and the game gives it a lower rate of regular employment.
Real dataStatistics on this page
- Births and total fertility rate: MHLW Vital Statistics (Japanese nationals in Japan; Okinawa excluded until 1972)
- University entry rate: MEXT School Basic Survey (university entrants, including those who entered after a gap year, divided by junior high graduates three years earlier)
- Jobs-to-applicants ratio: MHLW, annual average for all job seekers at public employment offices, not only new graduates
- Definitions: the public documents cited on each page
AssumptionGame simulation
- The "game simulation" table comes from running lives in the Born in Japan simulator with default choices
- Wages and life expectancy are based on public statistics, but marriage, job changes and investing include assumptions without a source. Years after 2026 are the game's assumptions
- Money is in today's yen, adjusted for inflation; expect a margin of a few points
The game starts you in its 1971–1982 generation group; your birth year, prefecture and family are chosen at random within it.
FAQ
What is the Employment ice age generation?
Japanese people who looked for their first jobs between about 1993 and 2004, after the bubble burst. The Japanese government defines the group by that job-hunting period.
What years were they born?
This page uses 1971–1982. The range follows the cited Japanese government definition.
How old are they in 2026?
44–55 years old (after their birthday in 2026).
How many people were born in those years?
21,623,743 births in 1971–1982, according to Japan's Vital Statistics.