Job offers for university graduates in 2021 drop 15.1% due to pandemic

On the plus side for Japan, due to its demographics there are still more jobs than there are job seekers, so the situation for graduates here isn't as bleak as it is in other countries. Its not great, and the class of 2019 definitely had it better than the class of 2020, but its not as bad as it could be.

For those in the US or Europe the situation is probably more like it was for those graduating from Japanese universities in the 1990s post-bubble economy, when there were fewer jobs than applicants. That generation got screwed over pretty badly, not being able to enter the workforce right away can really stunt your career and there are entire cohorts whose economic well being today, decades later, is still affected by it.

This is not just Japan-specific. All over the world, new graduates are affected the same way.