日本年轻女性收入首次超过男性

Not only can young Japanese women look forward to a longer life than their male peers, now they also make more money.

Income for single women under 30 hit an average of 218,156 yen ($2,680) a month in 2009, edging above the 215,515 yen ($2,640) of their male counterparts for the first time ever, according to an Internal Affairs ministry survey.

The change, which saw women\'s incomes surge 11.4 percent from the previous survey five years ago compared to a 7 percent fall for men, was driven by the plunge of the global economy and the fact that men\'s incomes simply had more room to fall.

"Basically, men\'s salaries were much higher in general, and they took a much bigger hit when the economy worsened," said Hideo Kumano, chief economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

"In addition, many more men work in manufacturing than women, and after the Lehman failure things for this sector really chilled."

Japan\'s economy has always been export-dependent and centered around manufacturers, who suffered especially badly from the late 2008 failure of Lehman Bros and the global stock market plunge that followed. In early 2009, Japanese stocks fell to a 26-year closing low.

By contrast, women are much more involved in jobs in medicine and nursing care, which have surged as Japan\'s population ages.

In addition, Kumano said, younger women may finally be starting to reap the rewards of the trails blazed by older predecessors in white-collar jobs such as finance.

"Women are now more able to take career-track jobs like this thanks to those in their 40s and older, who now are taking up managerial positions," he added.

But Kumano cautioned the figures may be a one-off fluctuation and it is still too early to see if the change is lasting.

According to the 2009 United Nations Development Programme\'s Gender Empowerment Measure, Japan ranked 57th out of 109 countries in political and economic participation for women.

Women accounted for only 4.1 percent of department managers in private corporations in 2008, according to a study by Japan\'s Gender Equality Bureau of the Cabinet Office.

日本年轻女性不但预期寿命会比男性长，如今她们赚的钱也比男性多。

根据内务省的一项调查，30岁以下的单身女性2009年的平均月收入达到21.8万日元（2680美元），有史以来首次以微弱优势超过了同一年龄段日本男性的平均月薪（21.55万日元，合2640美元）。

相比于五年前的调查结果，女性的收入上升了11.4%，而男性的收入下降了7%。这一变化一方面是由于全球经济的萧条，另一方面也是因为男性的收入确实有进一步下降的空间。

日本第一生命经济研究所的首席经济学家熊野秀夫说：“一般说来，男性的收入总体上会比女性高得多，在经济恶化时受到的打击也大得多。”

“另外，在制造业工作的男性要比女性多得多，而在雷曼兄弟公司破产后制造业严重衰退了。”

日本经济一直是依赖出口并以制造业为中心，2008年末雷曼兄弟破产，随后全球股市暴跌，日本受创尤其严重。2009年初，日本股市收盘跌到了26年以来的最低点。

相比之下，随着日本人口的老龄化，在医药和护理行业工作的女性大大增多了。

另外，熊野说，青年女性也许终于能够开始收获前辈们在金融等白领行业的耕耘成果了。

他还说：“多亏那些如今担任管理职位的40岁以上的女性，日本女性现在更有能力胜任这样有职业前景的工作。”

但是熊野提醒道，这些数据可能只是昙花一现的波动，要想知道这一变化是否会持久还为时尚早。

根据2009年联合国发展计划的性别权力指数，在女性参与政治和经济的情况上，日本在109个国家中排名第57位。

根据日本内阁办事处性别平等局的一项研究，2008年私营企业的部门经理中，女性只占4.1%。

Vocabulary:

edge: to increase or decrease slightly 略为增加（或减少）

one-off: made or happening only once and not regularly（一次性的；非经常的）