Want a job? Ganbatte?

As those of us who live in Japan know on a day to day basis (and have done for some time), jobs in Japan are a bit scarce – especially for those who are emerging from University. The unemployment rate currently runs around 5%, and that’s under Japan’s rather bizarre employment definitions (though to be fair, all countries make some pretty odd definitions of ’employed’).

Having survived the entry exam, and then ‘endured’ a curriculum known by some as the ‘4 year holiday’, many graduates are emerging, blinking, into the job market realising it’s going to be tougher than getting into University. The days of full employment are over, and more and more employers want to see some benefit to hiring people, rather than just getting people, and molding them through the company training scheme.

An interesting article is here as the youth rally together to get fired up to look for jobs. I remember a few months ago seeing a march in Omotesando by university students demanding the government create more jobs. No argument here on either idea, but I have to ask – how hard are they looking for work? That’s an open question, as I don’t honestly know.

As in all countries, there are jobs out there (indeed, my company is hiring), but the task as ever is matching them up, but with a massive growth in recruiting companies in Japan, one would hope this is possible.