It has been more than one year since the Lehman Brothers collapse, which led to the current world economic crisis. Last spring the news was about student employment offers being withdrawn. According to the research of one company, almost 30 percent of university graduates had still not been offered employment, the worst figure since research began in 2004.
In Japan, students who fail to find employment have to wait a year or more until their next attempt. Many of these students are given a choice of heading for graduate school or accepting part-time work. While the Japanese government is expected to take measures to increase job opportunities for new grads, that in itself is only a stopgap measure.
What the government needs to do is to look at education and its "nonrole" thus far in career planning. The great majority of Japanese graduate students start career planning in the third year, which at most gives them a year to prepare. In America, career planning for many students begins in high school with classes devoted to preparing for and finding a career. Isn't it the responsibility of Japanese education — from as early as high school — to prepare students for the job hunt with greater support and far more job-seeking training?
No change in the system is likely unless the Japanese government moves. Does it want to avoid an even worse employment situation? Companies deserve the best-prepared employees; students deserve to be given their best shot.
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