Nearly half of major Japanese companies will hire fewer new graduates to start work in spring 2010, while only 6 percent will increase recruitment, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey.
This marks the first time in seven years that an Asahi Shimbun survey has found more companies cutting back on new recruits than those raising the number from the previous year.
The survey on 100 leading companies in each industry was conducted from late February to mid-March.
Forty-four of the companies said they will reduce their hiring of new graduates for next spring, up from seven companies for this spring.
Six companies plan to hire more new graduates, down from 30 in a 2008 survey.
Thirty-seven companies said the number of new recruits will remain the same, down from 48 in 2008.
And 13 said they are undecided, compared with 15 in 2008.
Companies have been reluctant to slash their hiring of new graduates because of a bitter lesson learned after the collapse of the asset-inflated economy of the late 1980s. Restrained hiring after the bubble burst has led to an imbalance in employee makeup in terms of age.
But now, amid the worldwide economic crisis, many companies are being forced to cut back on hiring to keep labor costs down and maintain employment of existing workers.
Many of these companies are in the manufacturing industry, which has been hit hard by dwindling global demand.
In the auto industry, Toyota Motor Corp. plans to halve the number of new graduates hired to 1,400, サーバー管理while Honda Motor Co. will cut the number by 40 percent to 890. Nissan Motor Co. said it is undecided, but it is expected to reduce the number sharply from 582 this year.
In the electronics industry, NEC Corp. will employ only 100 new graduates, a decrease of 90 percent from this year. Both Hitachi Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. will hire 40 percent fewer graduates, at 800 and 700, respectively.
The surge in hiring in the banking sector in recent years will also end. The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ will cut hiring of new graduates by 60 percent from this year to 650, while Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. will slash the number by about 50 percent to 1,100.
Mizuho Financial Group will hire 1,750 graduates for next spring, down 600 from this year.
However, utility and railway companies that are less affected by the economic crisis plan to maintain or increase the number of new graduates hired.
Kansai Electric Power Co., Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Tokyo Gas Co. will all hire more graduates.
East Japan Railway Co. and West Japan Railway Co. will give jobs to about the same number of new graduates, while Central Japan Railway Co. will hire about 1,030 new recruits, the largest number ever at the railway.
The hiring process has already started for those graduating next spring. Many companies are expected to give job offers as early as April.(IHT/Asahi: March 30,2009)