Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sought Tuesday to downplay a remark last week that critics claim shows he is out of touch, saying it was misinterpreted.

Abe¡¯s remark, which used the example of a hypothetical wife who earns a salary of ?250,000 per month, has drawn anger and criticism from working- and middle-class people who read the comment as referring to a part-time job, for which the salary would be considered surprisingly high.

Critics say Abe, who grew up the scion of a wealthy elite family, is out of touch with the reality of the economy. According to the labor ministry, the average monthly wage for part-timers was just ?96,638 in November at a company with five workers or more.

¡°You should listen to my remark more carefully. I didn¡¯t say it¡¯s a part-time job,¡± Abe told the Lower House Budget Committee on Tuesday.

But Chinami Nishimura, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Japan, disagreed, citing the context of his remark.

¡°You clearly (said) it¡¯s a part-timer. Please don¡¯t try to get away with this,¡± she said.

In the Diet last Friday, Abe was arguing that ¡°when the economy recovers and jobs increase, it¡¯s possible the average wage per worker will become lower because more people will start working part-time jobs.¡±

He then said: ¡°If my wife who doesn¡¯t have a job starts working after feeling the economy is now on a full-fledged recovery track, the income of my family will be. . . . If I earn ?500,000 and my wife earns ?250,000, (the total income) is ?750,000.

¡°But the average will be lower because two people are now working,¡± he added.

During Tuesday¡¯s session, Abe emphasized the main point of his argument was that the average wage per worker could decrease at the beginning of an economic recovery.