The employment rate among new high school graduates at the end of March rose to 89.0 percent from 86.7 percent a year ago, reflecting signs of an economic recovery, a government survey showed Thursday.
The rate increased for the second consecutive year, and this spring's rise of 2.3 percentage points was far larger than the 0.4 point figure of a year ago, said an official of the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.
The survey covered all of 231,000 high school students wanting to work following their graduation in March.
A separate survey by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, which covered 177,000 students seeking private-sector jobs, said the employment rate for this spring rose to 92.1 percent from 90.0 percent a year ago.