910,000 new recruits start work across Japan

Not completely analogous, but the U.S. added 220,000 new jobs last month alone. Anyone have access to current annual job creation in Japan?

a very important practice that is seen as the right way to transition from education to work,” said Yuki Honda, a Tokyo University professor who specialises in youth employment.

This is interesting. If you go straight from uni to work, there are very few distractions in between, and little chance to be influenced and inspired by other things such as travel and broadening your world view. Perfect for Japan Inc. no visionaries out of place there. So sirie!

Fortunately, this thinking would work better before the Internet. Nowadays, I can only hope the youngsters don't buy into this culture as much as their parents/grandparents.

“In Europe and the United States, you are on your own and have to try to find a job yourself. Here in Japan it’s all a process.”

Well, I am not sure the first sentence is right. There was the "milk round" when I was at university and there are careers offices in universities. The second sentence is definitely right though. It is all "a process" from cradle to grave.

Ryohei Wasada worried the new job would take up a lot of his time

In my experience, this is a very legitimate concern. Good luck Ryohei.

More than 500 recruits pumped their fists in the air and shouted “yacchae, Nissan” (“go for it, Nissan”)

The new bright eyed employees are awestruck by their new world but it never seems to take long for their eyes to become dulled by the realization of monotony of salary man life and soon fall into mediocracy, just turning up and faithfully do their duties and service overtime. Most end up knowing less about their specialty than I have learnt about it from my own limited half baked study. A very sad situation indeed.

US added 220,000 last month alone? Were they 219,000 jobs for couriers, low skilled work, or for graduates?

Ryohei Wasada worried the new job would take up a lot of his time

In my experience, this is a very legitimate concern. Good luck Ryohei.

@M3M3M3

I literally laughed out loud when I read that. Little does young and naive Ryohei know what awaits...

To me, this mass of soul-crushing uniformity is drab and utterly depressing, especially the third picture. Dystopia.

The first thing that comes to mind is the Pink Floyd lyrics, "all in all you're just another brick in the wall."

And how many of these will be so disillusioned after a month of corporate life that they quit? May disease - "go-gatsu-byou" is getting more common as these students are unable to handle the transition to the discipline and subserviance of corporate life.

Its a broken system and will be forced to change one way or another.

For those who scored 900+ on their TOEIC exam and got into MNC gaishikei graduate programmes, I say good on them, you have an escape route on that inevitable day Japan inc. comes crashing down.

To me, this mass of soul-crushing uniformity is drab and utterly depressing, especially the third picture. Dystopia.

I usually don't click on those little pics at the end but did this time & yeah that 3rd picture is SACRY & DEPRESSING!! Very NK like........sends shivers down my spine.

I would have less problems with this April 1st stuff IF there was a functioning labour market thereafter but there isn't that why this is so depressing, so many of these peoples live are supposed to just begin BUT in reality its the end that's starting & going to drag on decades!!

The notion that 910,000 new recruits entered Japan's conventional workforce all at the same time through the nation's standard recruitment path is mind boggling given that only 1,000,000 children were born in Japan last year.

Hundreds of thousands of Japanese started their first day on the job Friday in an annual ritual born from the country’s fast-disappearing jobs-for-life work culture.

Monday would be the logical day to start

April Fool's, Japan Inc style.

This system is so so outdated and killing Japan.

The oyaji who control the companies have selective hearing when it comes to ideas of change

For all you critics who calls this system " outdated" or "broken" and needs to be changed soon, I don't see how other nations' youth employment programs rival that of Japan. Most of the kids who graduate school in America, Canada, Australia, or Europe don't even really have a true plan and just get whatever job thats relevant to their field of study, only to quite and change jobs after two or three years. Some who quite can't even get a stable income let alone a career; While others are absolutely so hopelessly unemployed that they become internet intellectuals and yell at other online com mentors on this page. lol

The problem with youth in Western Society today is that the majority of us don't have a plan, and we don't really have a national event or season where everybody starts applying for work in unison. It's quite scary when applying for work as college graduate with little to no work experience, but at least you can take comfort that everyone is undergoing the same process as you. It's like taking the SAT and the college application period for high school graduates in the states, more kids are motivated to participate in the taking the SAT and applying out when their friends and family members are doing it at the same time too.

Most of the kids who graduate school in America, Canada, Australia, or Europe don't even really have a true plan and just get whatever job thats relevant to their field of study,

In Japan you only need to turn up to class to pass, it's all about getting into the university and being part of the club. It's an outdated system in Japan. At least overseas when you come out of university you learnt something.

gogogo -

like what? Enjoying life and living young and care free? Because to be honest I didn't learn anything outside the field of focus that I studied in. Most of my Life learning experience came from me doing things outside of school and learning things that I like to learn about by myself.

I would rather be part of a society where I go to class to pass, and get into that club that'll help me get a job, than living in a "do-it-yourself" society where the strongest survives the employment world and weak stay in the minimum wage and entry level position without any kind of significant networking skills.

In East Asia, we all have a system where our parents tell us to study hard in school so you can pass to go to a good college, and than get a good job.

In America, we just say: get a job doing whatever it is your interested in. Oh and it'll help a lot if you have a connection whose working in said career field to get you in.

That's how the employment works in America. lol most people get jobs through a friend, family member, or connect. Even if it's an internship. And if you don't have a friend or connect, than most the self-made successful people wouldve been like how most young japanese kids do it and attend job fair conventions to meet and network around.

Where I live there is a large Japanese car manufacturer plant, when the Japanese set this plant up it came with the same ideology, which is quite good in some ways ,but bringing those thoughts to England and different culture didn't work, there was a big problem and it was that at the end of the day you will work for XX hours overtime with out pay, Oh boy! this didn't sit well with the British work force, they all down tools and walked off! needless to say that the Japanese management were totally confused by this, in the end they paid the going over time rate and the plant went back into operation.

Work smart...and be yourself.

From the US. Been here since 1978. The Japanese are getting better step by step. But they need our help. There are many more "individuals" than way back in '78. Let's foster the development of more through interactions that play up the positives of those who take steps (however tentative) to make Japan a more employee-oriented society. And that includes us nudging the elite in the right direction.

I was kind on my own to find a job (job fairs, job ads...) and did learn how to fish myself. Japanese learn how to be fished. I prefer being poor and free than richer/comfort and slave. Been working in Japan to tell you that. Once adult, why be treated like hopeless person ? I understand it allows everyone of them to feel united and move as a group, as always. Individual characters, immigrate !

'Over at the Bank of Japan, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda tried to ease the nerves of more than 150 aspiring central bankers.'

With an incompetent as himself at the helm, he wasn't successful...,,

It would be a bummer for Western university grad got a high GPA and did their 3 month summer internships to end up on the same Japanese payroll as some local who cruised his way through an expensive Japanese varsity by merely turning up to lectures and doing part time work to fund his/her ritualistic nomikai binge.

Straight out of university all earning the same salary of 180,000 yen a month working 12-16 hours a day.... outdated system? YES!

In Japan you only need to turn up to class to pass, it's all about getting into the university and being part of the club. It's an outdated system in Japan. At least overseas when you come out of university you learnt something.

I've studied at a Japanese university as an undergrad for 4 years, and I can tell you that while it certainly isn't as hard to obtain credits for classes and graduate compared to abroad, the idea that one only needs to show up to class if false. I can only speak for the university I went to, but often times, attendance was only 30% of your final grade at most. The remaining grades would, depending on the class, come from active class participation, and submitting reports or taking exams. Failing to submit these on time would make you fail the class. I've known several Japanese students that took 4,5 or 5 years to graduate because they simply didn't didn't bother meeting the requirements of some of their classes.

Straight out of university all earning the same salary of 180,000 yen a month working 12-16 hours a day.... outdated system? YES!

When I was job hunting in 2014, most companies seemed to offer a salary between 200.000 and 210.000 per month. There were exceptions of course, with some companies paying as high as 300.000 and some as low as the figures you mentioned, although the latter, from what I've seen, would usually be for retail jobs. For what it's worth, the company I'm working for won't let us work overtime because they would have to pay us more. They encourage us to stick to the standard 8 hour work day. And should you ever have to do any overtime, you would need get permission from your boss first, followed by leaving work early at a later date so your total working hours for that month don't surpass 160. And if you do end up having more hours than that at the end of the month, you will be paid accordingly.

@Lorem ipsum: you would be paid 3-4 times that overseas is the point.

Wow, JAL hired a load of graduates! It would be really interesting to see a breakdown of graduate hiring by company, not sure if those figures are available anywhere though. Also I wonder what the graduate hiring processes for foreign companies in Japan are?

@Lorem ipsum: you would be paid 3-4 times that overseas is the point.

While I agree with everyone that the Japanese system needs to change, thinking that new grads earn even close to this much on average overseas is a little silly.

*gogogoAPR. 04, 2016 - 09:42AM JST

@Lorem ipsum: you would be paid 3-4 times that overseas is the point.*

I hope you're joking right? 3-4 times 200.000 yen per month. That's 6-800.000 yen per month, and for an entry level job at that? Please tell me what countries you know that pay that much for entry level positions. I would love to know.

By the way, you're forgetting the bi-annual bonuses that virtually all seishain get from their company, so even with an entry level salary of 200.000, they will likely earn between 2x and 2.5 times that, and that twice per annum. 200.000 yen x 4 = 400.000 yen, divided by 12 = 33,333 yen per month, meaning that if you calculate their salary including bonuses, they would really be earning 233.000+ yen. That makes a significant difference, don't you think?

Yoyogi59APR. 02, 2016 - 10:28AM JST US added 220,000 last month alone? Were they 219,000 jobs for couriers, low skilled work, or for graduates?

Some combination thereof.

U.S. college grads don't just step into their first post-school job a month after graduation. Some are fortunate enough to have the job secured before they graduate, for others it can take months. The question was that while 910,000 Japanese college grads are hired in a short period of time after finishing "school," how many people are otherwise finding full-time employment during the rest of the year? 200K+ per month or 2.4m has been typical for the U.S. economy over the last three years of so. What is the figure for Japan? My guess, since Japan has this pointless hiring season, regardless of company staffing needs in terms of numbers and skills, is that annual job creation is not much beyond the 1m figure annually. There still isn't any real job mobility in Japan where an employee might seek a new firm or be head-hunted by a rival firm.

I still believe Japan's hiring season is much better than US and other western style hiring system. kids at least have the motivation to be applying out at the same time, whereas its a free-for-all in the states. And even if the pay is higher in the States, it doesn't mean theres a lot of availability since our hiring season isn't on a fixed date.

Lorem ipsumAPR. 04, 2016 - 08:45PM JST I hope you're joking right? 3-4 times 200.000 yen per month. That's 6-800.000 yen per month, and for an entry level job at that? Please tell me what countries you know that pay that much for entry level positions. I would love to know.

Yes. That contention is utter nonsense. There are youngish tech people at Amazon and Google making six-figures, but the only other "new recruits" doing so are graduates of Ivy League law schools (and then only Harvard, Yale and Columbia) and graduates of certain MBA programs. But these are people finishing graduate schools. No one is making six-figures coming out of his undergraduate program.

By the way, you're forgetting the bi-annual bonuses that virtually all seishain get from their company, so even with an entry level salary of 200.000, they will likely earn between 2x and 2.5 times that, and that twice per annum. 200.000 yen x 4 = 400.000 yen, divided by 12 = 33,333 yen per month, meaning that if you calculate their salary including bonuses, they would really be earning 233.000+ yen. That makes a significant difference, don't you think?

That isn't a bonus and you know it. The company is simply withholding some of your annualized salary for later payment. Real bonuses are based on company profitability or superior individual performance. I've never heard of a Japanese corporation awarding true bonuses.

@Lorem ipsum: Maybe 2- 2.5 times....

The median starting salary for male and female graduates was $55,000 and $52,000 respectively (males remained unchanged from their 2013 figure whereas females increased by $900 – see Table 1). Dentistry remained the highest-paid field of education at $75,000, followed by: • optometry ($70,000) • engineering ($62,000) • earth sciences ($60,000) • mathematics ($60,000), and • medicine ($60,000).

Link : http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Graduate_Salaries_Report_2014_FINAL.PDF

gogogoAPR. 06, 2016 - 04:13PM JST @Lorem ipsum: Maybe 2- 2.5 times.... The median starting salary for male and female graduates was $55,000 and $52,000 respectively (males remained unchanged from their 2013 figure whereas females increased by $900 – see Table 1). Dentistry remained the highest-paid field of education at $75,000, followed by: • optometry ($70,000) • engineering ($62,000) • earth sciences ($60,000) • mathematics ($60,000), and • medicine ($60,000).

You are citing statistics for people leaving professional graduate programs, not just college graduates. Someone with a BA in math or Earth Sciences will be lucky to get a job, let alone one that pays $60K a year. And nowhere on the planet does someone with a BA and a teaching certificate makes $75K in education right out of school university.

Jeff Huffman: Unless you are talking about something like a community college there is no difference between college grads and professional grads. College grads (as refers to this article) equals BA grads.

“In Europe and the United States, you are on your own and have to try to find a job yourself. Here in Japan it’s all a process.”

Of course you're grownups

**gogogoAPR. 06, 2016 - 04:13PM JST @Lorem ipsum: Maybe 2- 2.5 times....

The median starting salary for male and female graduates was $55,000 and $52,000 respectively (males remained unchanged from their 2013 figure whereas females increased by $900 – see Table 1). Dentistry remained the highest-paid field of education at $75,000, followed by: • optometry ($70,000) • engineering ($62,000) • earth sciences ($60,000) • mathematics ($60,000), and • medicine ($60,000).

Link : http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Graduate_Salaries_Report_2014_FINAL.PDF **

You seem to mention quite a few jobs in the field of medicine. Dentistry, optometry, medicine...those would be high paid anywhere in the world. I once met a young specialist doctor who earned about 400k yen a month after tax, fresh out of college. But we're not talking about those type of graduates. Most here are likely just graduates with a bachelor's degree.

Jeff HuffmanAPR. 06, 2016 - 07:00AM JST

That isn't a bonus and you know it. The company is simply withholding some of your annualized salary for later payment. Real bonuses are based on company profitability or superior individual performance. I've never heard of a Japanese corporation awarding true bonuses.

Yes, you're right. But even then, my point still stands, which was that gogogo left out the bonuses, thereby (probably unintentionally) misrepresenting the earnings of new graduates.

At the company I work for at least, there is a basic and variable bonus pay scale, the latter which is based on your performance/results in the past quarter. If times are tough, then yeah, apart from your default bonus amount, you would likely not earn much more, but if you perform well and that translates into good results for the company, then you will enjoy part of the benefits too.

**

gogogoAPR. 07, 2016 - 08:49AM JST Jeff Huffman: Unless you are talking about something like a community college there is no difference between college grads and professional grads. College grads (as refers to this article) equals BA grads.

No. No where in the world is a BA considered a professional certification like a law degree, medical degree, an engineering degree and so on. In every one of these cases and others, a BA is merely the first step towards attaining a professional degree. A BA in maths or science doesn't even get you into a public school classroom without a teaching certificate. Everyone of the salaries cited in that post were reflective of positions requiring a graduate degree of some kind, not starting salaries for people with only a bachelor's degree.