The Daily Manila Shimbun

 

Nearly 20 pct of college students in Japan secure job offers

April 15, 2018



Tokyo- Nearly 20 pct of job-hunting university students in Japan secured informal offers of employment next spring as of April 1 this year, a private survey showed.

The share of such students rose 5.4 percentage points from a year before to 19.9 pct, according to the survey by job information provider Recruit Career Co.

Given that this year's job-hunting season began only on March 1, the survey result indicates that the employment situation remains in favor of job-seeking students.

"Labor shortages are boosting companies' appetite for hiring," a Recruit Career official said. In particular, information technology-related and staffing companies are providing informal jobs offers early, Recruit Career said.

Diversified hiring practices are also apparently prompting companies to make informal job offers early as they create increased opportunities for contacts between businesses and students.

A different survey conducted in February-March by another job information provider Mynavi Corp. showed that the number of university students that businesses plan to hire in spring next year was 16.8 pct higher than that of students they hired this spring.

Increased hiring is occurring mainly in sectors seeing serious labor shortages, including infrastructure, manufacturing, retailing and construction.

The number of students companies planned to hire in spring 2018 exceeded that of those hired a year before by 17.8 pct, but the number of students who actually entered the companies was up only 2.4 pct.

This means that many companies failed to meet their hiring goals. A similar trend is expected in spring next year.

To overcome the difficulty, an increasing number of businesses are stepping up hiring of high school and junior college students.

The proportion of companies that exclude high school students from their hiring plans decreased some 20 pct over the past few years. Jiji Press