Amid persistent low birth rates and a severe labor shortage in Japan, 8 to 9 out of 10 university students expected to graduate next spring have already secured jobs, data showed.

Kyodo News reported on October 1 that, according to a survey by employment information company Mynavi, the informal job offer rate (the proportion of students who have secured employment) for next year's university graduates stood at 85.6% as of the end of August.

The news agency noted that a "candidate-driven labor market," where students hold the upper hand, continues to persist. It added that with an increasing number of students backing out after receiving job offers, companies are putting significant effort into maintaining these offers.

It further explained that companies continue to monitor the status of prospective employees after announcing job offers until they officially join the company, striving to build relationships by holding individual interviews to adjust preferred work locations or organizing gatherings with senior employees.

To prevent companies from competitively advancing their recruitment schedules and undermining university classes, the Japanese government has been encouraging firms to conduct new hire selections in June and announce job offers in October or later.

Major companies simultaneously held informal job acceptance ceremonies for next-generation university graduates on this day, moving to lock in early hiring.

Amid this trend, some companies have even introduced a "student store manager" system, granting college students working part-time the position of store manager in order to secure top talent ahead of competitors.


Home appliance retailer Nojima announced on September 30 that it is appointing two university students working part-time as store managers.

They were selected based on evaluations of their customer service attitude and performance among college student part-timers, and they will hold the same authority over budget management and recruitment as other store managers while receiving identical treatment.

Nojima employs approximately 10,000 workers across its stores nationwide, half of whom are college students working part-time.

Tokyo Shimbun explained that this is "an attempt to increase [prospective] recruits by showing an attitude that evaluates ability and performance regardless of age or employment type."

The company also announced that it will offer a starting monthly salary of 477,000 yen (approx. 4.19 million won) to new employees who have more than one year of part-time work experience and demonstrate exceptional performance and proposal-making abilities.

Considering that the average annual salary of Japanese private-sector workers last year (announced by the National Tax Agency) was 4.87 million yen (approx. 42.85 million won), this is an unprecedented amount.

The intention is to retain outstanding part-time employees and secure workers who can become "immediate assets."

Japan is suffering from a chronic labor shortage due to persistently low birth rates and a growing elderly population.

According to a recent announcement by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the proportion of elderly people aged 65 and over reached 29.6% of the total population, the highest among 39 countries worldwide with populations of over 40 million.

Under these circumstances, service industries where securing labor is essential are frequently putting as much effort into advertisements recruiting employees and part-timers as they are into product promotions.

Major convenience store chain FamilyMart recently drew attention by producing a commercial featuring pop star Lady Gaga to recruit part-time workers.

(Photo: Capture from Nojima website, Yonhap News)