Workplace Buzz: Today's Headlines

Looking at the Glass Ceiling Beyond Our Borders
Female employees in the U.S. often complain about the glass ceiling in the workplace. But after reading this article from The New York Times, it appears that Japanese working women have it even worse. Despite the fact that 27 million women account for almost half of Japan's work force, they only fill about 10 percent of management positions. Compare that with the percentage of American women filling managerial jobs: 42.5 percent. Entrepreneur.com

More to the Story of Men, Women and Wages
In my recent post about the new TV seres "Madmen", I ran some numbers to show how dramatically the status of women in the workplace has changed since 1960. In that post, I reported that the income gap between men and women in New Jersey, as of 2000, was about 75 percent. But as with everything in Demographics, there's more to the story. You can take almost any number, and drill down deeper. The New York Times last week reported on a more detailed study of the gender gap published this summer by the paper's demographic consultant, Andrew Beveridge. Star Ledger

Is the Livin’ Easy for the Employed?
IT’S a wonder you are reading this article at all. This was very nearly a blank page, because almost everyone I called to interview was out of town. Also on vacation is my baby sitter, which means that I had to interrupt my writing 9,667,248 times to drive one or the other of my (not quite yet licensed) teenagers to whatever enriching (and far-flung) summer activity was scheduled next. Once back at my desk, I was hot, cranky and in no mood to write. The editor who usually motivates me out of funks was away for two weeks, and the editor above her was away for one of those weeks, and I am feeling the need for another iced coffee break. How does any work get done in the summer? New York Times