It is difficult for new employees to find jobs. This is because many people have graduated from college and the conditions they want for the company are becoming difficult. Rather, if you have skills, the company tries to hire people who have skills because it is a profit.
The Japanese construction industry is keen to hire graduates from the so-called technical high schools. It is analyzed that the graduates from technical high schools are essential human resources and at the same time have lower wages than college graduates. However, the number of students applying for technical high schools is decreasing, contrary to the popularity of the job market for technical high schools.
On the 17th, the Japanese edition of the U.S. media “Bizinsiders” published a contribution by Kenji Takagi, director of the subsidiary of the recruitment platform Kraft Bank. According to the contribution, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s recruitment rate for middle and high school graduates in March was 3.5 times higher than that of other surveys (1.7 times). The recruitment rate is an indicator of the ratio of the number of job openings and the number of job seekers, and the higher the recruitment rate, the more job openings per job seeker. Former job openings are especially favored in the construction industry, which lacks young workers.
Teachers at two public high schools in the Seoul metropolitan area said, “The number of companies that want to recruit graduates from public high schools has tripled in the past 10 years, and there are 10 to 15 companies in one student. In some cases, they get a job at a listed company and work with a colleague who graduated from graduate school as a graduate of public high school.” The reason why graduates from public high schools are popular is that they have certificates related to civil engineering, construction, and construction, and have learned welding and computer support design (CAD) required in the field. Basic training is necessary because they have less experience as office workers, but graduates of public high-tech high skills are “golden eggs” for companies.
Although it is a strong announcement for employment, it faces many difficulties. The number of technical high schools nationwide decreased from 736 in the 1970s to 526 in 2020, and some schools did not fill the quota. This is said to be the difference of 1.6 million yen in annual salary due to the difference in the starting wage between high school graduates and college graduates. In some cases, the annual salary of new high school graduates was raised by 11% last year, like the Sekis E-House group. Even if the starting salary rises, the difference in average annual salary between high school graduates and college graduates is not immediately resolved. There are many points out that the salary and evaluation system should be changed not only for new graduates but also for existing employees.
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
