A record-low 91.1 percent of job-seeking college graduates found full-time jobs this spring, down 0.9 percentage point from the previous year, according to a joint survey by the Education and Labor ministries released Friday.
As of April 1, an estimated 50,000 college and junior college graduates had failed to find a job, up some 5,000 from the previous year, according to the survey.
In order to boost graduate employment, the Labor Ministry said it intends to give the graduates more support by holding job fairs or providing vocational training.
The survey polled some 5,860 students from 108 colleges, junior colleges and vocational colleges who were seeking a job after graduation.
The proportion of job-seeking male graduates who found work was 91.9 percent, down 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier, while 89.5 percent of female graduates secured a job, up 0.3 point, the survey said.
The proportion of job-seekers among all graduates fell 5.6 percentage points from the previous year to 62.7 percent, reflecting the fact that more students opted to attend graduate school or repeat a year at school.
By majors, 92.6 percent of job-seeking graduates who studied science found work, down 2.2 points, while 90.7 percent of graduates who majored in other subjects gained a job, down 0.6 point. , the survey found.
By area, 83.7 percent of job-seeking graduates in Kyushu were hired, compared with 90.4 percent of graduates in Hokkaido, Tohoku and Kansai.
One hundred percent of male graduates from state-run technical colleges found a job, the same as last year. Only 84 percent of female graduates from junior colleges secured employment, down 4.4 points, while 83.2 percent of graduates from vocational colleges did so, down 3.1 points.