Employment Environment in Japan
Employment of new graduates of higher education institutions market in Japan has been stable with over 90% employment rate during the past 10 years, indicating the steady employment environment in Japan compared to overseas. Average starting monthly salary of those who graduated higher education in Japan is approximately JPY200,000 to JPY250,000. Japan has a unique culture compared to other countries in which there is no starting monthly salary difference between large-sized companies and small and medium-sized companies.
(1)Employment Environment in Japan
Graph on the below right shows the Japanese graduates of universities (universities, junior colleges, college of technology) employment rate transition. The employment rate is for those Japanese students who desired to be employed after graduation.
Employment of new graduates market in Japan has been stable with over 90% employment rate during the past 10 years, indicating the steady employment environment in Japan. For the year 2021, almost 100% of the students were able to be employed by a company after graduating with 96.3% employment rate, almost unaffected by COVID-19.
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare “Employment status survey of university graduates”
(2)Starting Salary
Starting salary (“shoninkyu”) is the first monthly salary graduates from university or graduate schools receive from their employer. The graph on the below right shows the average starting salary in Japan. Those graduating from universities receive approximately JPY200,000 monthly salary and those graduating from graduate schools (master degree) receive approximately JPY230,000 monthly salary. Administrative work is humanities courses profession and engineering work is science course profession.
National Personnel Authority "Results of Survey on Private Salaries by Occupation" (2019)
(3)Average Salary by Age
This graph shows the average annual salary by age. Each bar indicates the average annual salary by age group.
The annual salary for males is the highest at age 50 – 54 with JPY6.77 million and it begins to gradually decline. For female, the average annual salary stays at the same level after 25-29. This is due to the fact that many female limit their working time due to marriage or pregnancy.
National Tax Agency "Statistical Survey of Private Salaries for the First Year of Reiwa"
