Even so, the shift toward more female employees isn't likely to boost overall consumer spending because the factory jobs being lost paid more than the newly created service positions. Social services and nursing paid an average 229,732 yen a month last year, 63 percent of the 362,340 yen for factory workers and 62 percent of the 373,288 yen earned in construction, according to the labor ministry.
"The reality is that women get paid less," Morita said.
Global Trend
The trend of women replacing men in Japan's workforce mirrors a similar shift in other developed nations as companies cut back payrolls. Last year, the average male unemployment rate among the OECD countries was 8.5 percent, compared with 8.1 percent for women, according to the organization's Web site. In 2000, the situation was reversed, with 5.8 percent of men jobless and 6.8 percent of female workers.
Japan's unemployment rate in 2010 was 5.4 percent for men and 4.6 percent for women, a record gap. Joblessness may rise to 7.1 percent for men and 5.9 percent for women by 2020, Works Institute estimates.
That's a bleak outlook for Ogawa, who lives alongside Kadoma's rusting, shuttered factories, which once drew laborers from across Japan as they boomed with the Panasonic headquarters they surround. He says the stagnation has changed the attitude of young people in their 20s like his son and daughter, who hoard the money they earn rather than spending it.
"It's hard to tell them to aim high when I'm struggling to find a job," Ogawa said. "I don't dare talk about my good times when I was their age; they just wouldn't understand."