Jan 16 (NHK) - A survey has found that university seniors in Japan are having trouble getting jobs, due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Japan's labor and education ministries jointly surveyed 4,770 students, who will graduate in March from 62 universities across the country.
The survey shows that at the beginning of last month 82.2 percent had job offers. That's down 4.9 percentage points from a year before.
It's the third largest decline ever recorded in the month of December. The biggest drop was 7.4 points in 2009, when the global financial crisis occurred.
The survey also found that only 57.6 percent of junior college students had job offers. That marks a decline of 14.4 points from a year earlier.
The labor ministry says some students are being forced to spend more time looking for jobs because the coronavirus is continuing to spread.
The ministry says it is working with universities to provide support, as some businesses may decide not to hire new recruits before the pandemic subsides.
