College student in Japan

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The employment rate of new university graduates this year improved for the fourth consecutive year, reaching 69.8 percent, up 2.5 percentage points from the previous fiscal year.
 
According to the education ministry’s preliminary School Basic Survey report released Thursday, 372,662 graduates, or 65.9 percent, are regular employees while more than 100,000 new graduates are working as part-timers or temps or have no jobs.
 
The annual survey gathers basic data as of May 1 on education bodies including primary, middle and high schools as well as universities. To gain a clearer picture of the employment situation for university graduates, the survey began to include data concerning nonregular employment in fiscal 2012.
 
The latest survey indicates 394,937 university graduates found jobs, up 18,980 from the previous fiscal year, and 22,275 of them are nonregular employees, down 507. Nonregular employees refer to those under contracts of one year or longer who work 30 to 40 hours a week, including contract employees and temp staff. The percentage of total new university graduates in this category dropped by 0.2 percentage point to 3.9 percent.
 
“The economic recovery seems to appear in those figures,” said an official at the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.
 


Those not in stable employment totaled 105,275, down 10,172. The figure includes 14,519 who found temporary jobs, such as part-time work, and 68,481 who neither went on to higher education nor found jobs. The percentage of total new university graduates in this category stood at 18.6 percent, down 2.1 percentage points.
 
Those not employed or in higher education include 37,638 looking for employment, 2,845 planning to enroll in higher education and 27,998 others such as domestic helpers and volunteers.
 
Of the 1,051,342 high school graduates this spring, 183,608, or 17.5 percent, began working. This percentage also rose for the fourth straight year, up 0.6 percentage point from the previous fiscal year.
 
Those who chose to enter university, including applicants who failed to enter but plan to try again, account for a record high of 51.5 percent, up 1.6 percentage points from the previous fiscal year.
 
Meanwhile, 47,803 were neither employed nor in higher education, accounting for 4.5 percent, down 0.4 percentage point.
 
An education ministry official said: “It is problematic that more than 100,000 people are still in unstable conditions. We hope to provide further support for students in finding jobs in cooperation with the ministries and agencies concerned.”

(source & picture : the-japan-news.com)