Job offer rate to high school graduates falls by one-half

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Job offer rate to high school graduates falls by one-half

A Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry survey published on September 11 shows that the number of jobs available for high school students expected to graduate in March 2010 is 135,064, a record decrease by 48.8 percent from the previous year.

The ratio of job offers to job seekers decreased to 0.71 for the first time in seven years. If the situation remains unchanged, many high school students will leave school without getting jobs.

A Japan Senior High School Teachers Unions (Nikkokyo) member Sakota Hiroshi said, "It is grave that many high school students will be unemployed just after graduating from school. In order to ensure that high school students can find jobs, our union will increase our efforts in demanding that big companies offer jobs to high school graduates in a positive way, that the national government actively take measures to secure jobs for high school graduates, to protect employment and people's livelihoods, and to create jobs for high school graduates in public services including welfare, education, and medical and nursing-care services, and that local governments take concrete measures to support high school students in finding jobs."

- Akahata, September 12, 2009