More than one in 10 college students expecting to graduate in March had not secured jobs as of March 1 -- a record high, according to a government study released Tuesday.
Of all college seniors seeking employment after graduation last month, 88.7 percent had found work, according to the survey, which was conducted jointly by the Education and Labor ministries.
This is the first time the figure has dipped below 90 percent since the study began in fiscal 1994.
The result was 2.2 percentage points lower than a year earlier and 1.6 percentage points lower than three years earlier, when students faced what officials called the "Ice Age of the Job Market."
Among those expecting to graduate from two-year junior colleges, the percentage who had found employment did not reach 80 percent, the survey showed.
If graduates from both four- and two-year colleges are combined, an estimated 72,000 did not find jobs before April 1, the start of the new fiscal year, the officials said.
The study polled 5,300 students from 88 randomly selected four- and two-year colleges as well as five-year "kosen" technical colleges.
Among four-year college students, 90.7 percent of male students had found jobs, down 1.8 percentage points from a year earlier, while their female counterparts fared worse, with only 84.7 percent finding employment, down 2.8 percentage points.
Among prospective junior college graduates, most of whom are women, 79.1 percent had found jobs, down 1.7 percentage points.