Japan Press Weekly

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2012 November 28 - December 4 [LABOR]

Students’ employment rate still remains low

Only 41% of high school students graduating next spring have been promised a job as of late September and 63.1% of college or university students as of October 1, indicating that the rate of jobs they have managed to secure before graduation still remains low.

According to government statistics, about 160,000 college or university students graduating next spring are still seeking a job offer.

It is unreasonable for them to be left unemployed after they have completed their schooling.

The Japanese Communist Party has repeatedly taken up the youth unemployment issue in the Diet.

The JCP attributes the root cause to large corporations replacing regular employees with contingent workers. The Ministry of Education surveyed graduates this summer and found out that 4% are forced to accept non-regular employment. The JCP recognizes that the 63.1% of graduating university students offered jobs includes students who could not obtain a regular position.

The JCP has called for the usage of 260 trillion yen in corporate internal reserves for fair job opportunities and support to small- and medium-sized enterprises. The party has also demanded that the government take responsibility for creating more regular jobs and converting jobs from contingent employment to regular employment.