Over half of students who graduated in the spring of 2010 are not in full-time jobs, according to statistics released by the Cabinet Office on March 19.The statistics show that 52 percent of university and vocational school students and 68 percent of high school students scheduled to graduate in the spring of 2010 have either been unable to find steady work, have left such work already, or dropped out before graduating.
Declaring the youth employment situation worse than anticipated, the government will set up a committee to discuss the problem and aims to put together a plan around June to expand employment support.
The statistics are the first of their kind, put together based on nationwide graduate employment statistics from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, employment insurance enrollment numbers, and other information.
Spring graduate employment rates announced in May 2010 by the education ministry and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare showed 91.8 percent of university grads, 87.4 percent of vocational school grads, and 93.9 percent of high school grads had found full-time jobs. These percentages, however, were based off a smaller sample of schools than the new statistics, which also include those who have left their jobs since 2010 and are thought to better represent true youth employment conditions. Read More
