TMCnet News
Half of big firms surveyed to up recruitment of new grads in 2007+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, March 19_(Kyodo) _ Nearly half of major firms in Japan surveyed plan to increase the number of employees they recruit fresh out of school in the spring of 2007 from the level planned for this spring, according to a Kyodo News survey released Sunday. Of the 113 firms surveyed, 52 companies in electric appliance, banking and various other fields said they will increase the number of employees they recruit fresh out of high school, junior college, college and graduate school in the spring of next year. A total of 44 companies said they will hire as many new graduates as they have hired for this spring. Only three companies, including Toyota Motor Corp., said they will reduce the number from the level this spring. The remaining companies said they have yet to decide, or declined to answer. The survey shows that the hiring outlook has brightened for new graduates as more than 80 percent of the companies said they will increase or maintain the number of recruits from this year, up from 77 percent in a similar survey last year covering 105 firms. Companies with good earnings or those starting new businesses have begun to expand recruitment of new graduates, particularly ahead of the mass retirement of baby boomers from 2007. The level of job offers expected in 2007, however, remains lower than that of the period between the late 1980s and the early 1990s when Japan was in the midst of a bubble economy, as many firms are being careful not to break down the balance in age groups of employees, they said. Among firms with plans to increase the number, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. said they will recruit some 2,000 new graduates in April 2007, while Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. expects to hire 1,100. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. said it will hire 1,400 new graduates, up from 800 this spring. Toshiba Corp. plans to recruit more than 1,000 engineers, while Canon Inc., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and NEC Corp. are expected to hire more than 500 engineers, according to the survey. |