The Impact of Changes to Japanese Employment System on the Employment and Human Resource Development of the younger generation

This paper discusses the impact of changes to Japanese employment system on the employment of the younger generation, on academic background, and attended schools. Changes to the Japanese employment system do not serve to undermine its merits, but instead should be viewed as a correction to continue those merits. Potential directions for change include reducing the numbers of new graduates hired, reevaluating selection methods for late applicants, decreasing the number of candidates that enter into human resources training, and increasing expectations for selfdevelopment. Reducing the numbers of new graduates hired not only simply worsens the employment outlook for young people, but also could result in greater hiring disparity for differences in academic background or attended schools. A re-evaluation of the selection method for late applicants could have result in a greater tendency to place emphasis on the candidate's attended school as a selection criterion. Furthermore, decreasing the number of candidates who enter into human resources training, and increasing expectations for self-development could raise the social requirements for specialized degree programs such as business schools, but this leads to a reduction in the relative worth of university graduates, and runs the risk of causing new employment problems for younger people. These kinds of changes to the Japanese employment system run the risk of worsening the employment outlook for young people and widening the disparities of academic background or attended school. Therefore, in the future, there is an increased requirement for corrective actions to reduce disparity between permanent employees and non-permanent employees, and the establishment of programs for personal development and management of non-permanent employees.