Most university graduates, school leavers in Japan now finding work
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MORE THAN 97 PER CENT OF PUPILS WHO FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL FOUND JOBS AS OF THE END OF MARCH
THE PERCENTAGE of March university graduates seeking work who secured employment stood at 96.7 per cent on April 1, marking the fourth straight year in which the rate has risen and its highest point since the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008.
According to the announcement by the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry and the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, the employment rate was the second highest since collection of the data about university graduates began in 1997.
The highest figure recorded to date is the 96.9-per-cent rate for those who graduated in 2008. In the autumn of 2008, the Lehman Brothers collapse occurred. This year’s rate has recovered to a level close to that recorded before the world economic crisis.
Employment of high school graduates seeking work stood at 97.5 per cent, marking the fifth year in a row in which this rate has increased.
The ministries said companies have become more enthusiastic in hiring workers due to the nation’s economic recovery, and that job offers have also been on the rise in provincial regions.
The ministries conducted sampling research on 62 institutions among state-run, local government-run and private universities nationwide.
Among the graduates, about 411,000 – the highest ever – wished to become employees. Of them, about 397,000 were believed to have secured jobs.
By gender, 96.5 per cent of male graduates, up 2.7 percentage points from a year ago, found jobs, and 96.9 per cent of female graduates, up 1.7 points, secured employment.
For university arts and science courses, 96.5 per cent of arts graduates, up 2.5 points, and 97.2 percent of science graduates, up 0.8 point, found jobs.
Among graduates of junior colleges who sought work, 95.6 per cent, up 1.4 points, were able to find positions.
By region, the highest rates were seen in the Chubu and Chugoku-Shikoku regions, at 97.3 per cent. The figure in Chubu rose 1.9 points from a year ago, while that in Chugoku-Shikoku rose 4.5 points.
These were followed by Kinki at 97.1 per cent, up 3.3 points; Kanto at 96.9 per cent, up 0.5 point; Hokkaido-Tohoku at 95.3 per cent, up 2.5 points; and Kyushu with 94.7 per cent, up 3.9 points.
Increases of job offers were notable in provincial regions where the recovery of good employment conditions has been slow.
Takao Yoshimoto, editor-in-chief of a job information magazine at Mynavi Corp, said, “The numbers of job offers have been increasing in a wide variety of industries, as corporate performance has been improving.
“Major companies have been making efforts to attract students by, for example, increasing internship programmes. But small and midsize companies are negatively affected by such actions, and there have been situations in which the smaller companies become unable to hire sufficient numbers of new graduates.”
The education ministry also announced that 97.5 per cent of high-school graduates who graduated this spring and sought employment had found jobs as of the end of March.
That figure had risen 0.9 percentage point from a year ago. It was the first time in 23 years that the figure surpassed the 97-per-cent line, with the previous occasion being in 1992.
The employment rate among males was 98.1 per cent, up 0.6 point, and among females was 96.4 per cent, up 1.3 points.
By prefecture, the highest rate was 99.9 per cent in Toyama, followed by 99.8 per cent in Fukui and Ishikawa.
