Women Account for Record 27.2 Pct of Japan Govt Employee Exam Passers

June 29, 2018

Tokyo- Women accounted for 27.2 pct of those who passed Japan's career-track national public servant examination in fiscal 2018, with the proportion hitting the highest level since 1960, the oldest year for which data are available, a government agency said Friday.

The figure was up 1.4 percentage points from the preceding year, according to the National Personnel Authority. Of the 1,797 passers, 488 were women.

Citing one of the reasons for the rise in the proportion, an official of the government agency said that applicants were able to gain a better understanding of the job of a national public servant as the number of relevant job seminars for female students was increased.

The total number of applicants came to 19,609, meaning that one in every 10.9 applicants passed the exam, almost unchanged from 11.0 in fiscal 2017.

The number of passers from the University of Tokyo remained the largest, at 329. But the figure was down by 43 from fiscal 2017, standing below 400 for the second straight year.

The official said that more students at the university may have opted to seek private-sector jobs at a time when an increasing number of companies are actively hiring new employees.

Kyoto University ranked second, with 151 passers, down from 182, and Waseda University third, with 111, down from 123.

The successful applicants will be employed in spring 2019 if they pass interviews to be held from Wednesday. Jiji Press