University grads’ job-securing rate hits record high

March 17, 2018

Tokyo- Of job-hunting university students in Japan set to graduate this spring, 91.2 pct had secured informal work contracts as of Feb. 1, up 0.6 percentage point from a year before, a government survey showed Friday.

The reading was the highest for a survey at the beginning of February, according to the joint study by the labor and education ministries.

Japanese companies are becoming more active in taking on new employees as the country's economy continues to recover, a labor ministry official said.

In five of the six regions covered in the survey, the job-securing rate reached the highest levels since comparable data became available in 2000. The rate was up by 0.5 point at 90.2 percent in Hokkaido-Tohoku, by 0.5 point at 92.4 percent in Kanto, by 1.5 points at 93 percent in Chubu, by 0.3 point at 92.2 percent in Kinki and by 2.2 points at 89 percent in Kyushu.

The rate fell 2 points to 84 percent in Chugoku-Shikoku, apparently because the number of large companies is limited in the western Japan region and locally based firms were slow to start hiring procedures.

The job-securing rate rose 1.1 points to 89.9 percent for male students while leveling off at 92.8 percent for female students.

Of students majoring in humanities, 91 percent had secured informal job contracts, up 0.7 point. The rate stood at 92.4 percent for students on science courses, up 0.3 point. Jiji Press