The 139th Installment
Way of Single Men
by Yusuke Miyoshi,
Professor
Let’s discuss having economic strength. Public universities have been in the process of cutting personnel costs. When I started working at a university[OR1] , salaries increased nearly 6 to 7 % a year. So, I assumed that I would be earning what I wanted 20 years later. However, The Article 53 of the Act on Promotion of Administrative Reform for Realization of Small and Efficient Government clearly stipulates a 5% reduction in personnel expenses over the five years from fiscal 2006, which compelled each university to strive to achieve this target. Furthermore, as the operational subsidies were reduced by 1% per year, the universities’ budget was over 20% less than it was before they became independent administrative institutions. Have they raised tuition? No, they have not, fearing that would lower the enrollment rate. Those university operation conditions directly affect the economic strength, or salary, of each faculty member.
According to Noriyuki Takayama (2015), his Internet Survey on Life and Work in 2011[OR2] (which covered approximately 6,000 men and women aged 30 to 59) shows that many highly paid female full-time company employees aged 30 and above remain unmarried. The survey also indicates that families with full-time homemakers have lower annual income compared to dual-earner households. Moreover, according to a survey by the Cabinet Office, which asked 3,322 unmarried persons about their reasons for remaining single, the majority (57.0%) said, “Because I have not found a suitable partner.” It was followed by “Because I do not want to lose freedom and carefreeness” (32,9%), “Because I do not think I will have enough money for life after marriage” (29.6%), and “Because I do not feel the need” (28.3%), with each answer reaching around 30%. It seems that especially women place more importance and consideration on career and economic strength of their spouses-to-be than men do.
These statistics show that many women with higher incomes remain single throughout their lives. Can we, single men, marry financially strong women? Chizuko Ueno, author of the book The Way of Single Men[OR3] , classifies single men into three categories: first, widowed singles, second, divorced singles, and third, never-married singles. I fall into the third group of never-married singles.
Chizuko Ueno claims that it is difficult for a single man to marry a woman of his age. Considering such an opinion from the perspective of a financial professional, I believe that entering into a marital relationship has similar characteristics to an insurance policy. You will understand this better from the standpoint of an insurance policyholder. They choose to pay a premium (risk premium) in exchange for income stability, to avoid a loss of income due to an accident, for fear that they might get involved in one. In other words, they expect insurance companies to take the risk of protecting their income. Analogous to this is the idea of entering into a marital covenant in exchange for income stability. In this sense, it can be said that economically strong women are not willing to sign a marriage contract in exchange for income security. Consequently, they will be less likely to consider single men for marriage.
Of course, there are power couples who have married each other for other factors than economic rationality. Under the circumstances where salary increases are not expected, a single person who wants to have economic strength may have to be ready to be a housemaker. If you live in a rural area where the living cost is relatively lower than in the city, you can choose not to struggle to be a power couple. I do not mean to deny such a way of life, of course.
Do widowed or divorced women seek to marry again? Or, as Ueno says, are most of them fed up with marriage? Single men may need to be prepared to live alone forever. Because I have been thinking halfheartedly, “When I want to quit being a single man, I will be able to marry,” I doubt I will ever be eligible for marriage.