Japan Press Weekly

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2010 November 17 - 23 [LABOR]

College graduates’ employment rate hits record-low

Only 57.6% of students who will graduate from college in March have secured jobs, a record low since the survey began in 1996, announced by the Education and the Labor ministries on November 16.

The figure is lower than that of 60.2% in 2003 during the so-called “employment ice age”, when college graduates experienced severe difficulties finding jobs.

According to the same survey, the employment rates of students majoring in math and science and of students graduating from national and public universities have drastically decreased.

As of October 1, only 58.3% of college graduate candidates with math and science degrees got a job, a record 10.2 percentage point decrease from the previous year. The employment rate of students graduating from national and public universities substantially declined to 63.2%.

The Labor Ministry’s survey result released on the same day shows that as of September 30, the percentage of high school graduates who found jobs is only 40.6%, down 3 percentage points from the previous year.

The Japan Senior High School Teachers Union in its statement stressed the need to take effective measures to support high school graduates in finding jobs.
- Akahata, November 17, 2010