Only 61.6% of Japan's New Grads Have Jobs

Nearly two of every five Japanese university students who graduated this spring have been unable to find full-time jobs in a stagnant economy, according to preliminary results of a survey released Thursday.

Of 552,794 students who graduated from universities this spring, only 340,546 or 61.6 percent have found full-time jobs, said the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Still, the percentage represents a 0.8 percent improvement over last year when the ratio of students finding full-time jobs fell by the biggest margin on record as the economy continues to suffer from the crash that began in September 2008.

Of all the graduates, 70,642 or 12.8 percent have enrolled in graduate schools and 19,146 or 3.5 percent are working temporary jobs. The remaining 87,988, or 15.9 percent, have neither found work nor entered graduate school.