Awareness Survey of 18-Year-Olds – Employment and WorkResults of 68th installment announced – 80% of respondents are ‘Concerned’ about employment and work, one in four want to work for the same company until retirement

The 68^th installment of the Awareness Survey of 18-Year-Olds, launched by The Nippon Foundation in October 2018, was carried out on March 5-7 to gauge young people’s uncertainties regarding finding employment and work, ideal work styles, and related topics.

Roughly 80% of all respondents replied that they were “Concerned” or “Somewhat concerned” with regard to finding employment and working, and close to 60% of all respondents, including 63% of women, gave “Acquiring an accreditation” as a way to find a job. When asked about important factors in selecting a company to work for, the top response, cited by a majority of respondents, was “Superior salary and working conditions,” while one in three respondents also indicated substantial welfare benefits.

With regard to ideal working styles, there was a narrow gap between the top two responses: “I want to work at the same company until retirement,” at 26% of respondents, and “I want to change employers several times to get better conditions and workplace environments,” at 24%. This suggests that the breakdown of the Japanese system of lifetime employment seen in recent years continues.

When respondents including those already employed were asked about what kind of behavior from a supervisor, coworker, customer, vendor, etc. they would consider to be harassment, more than half cited “Being yelled at for making a mistake,” and roughly 40% cited “Being made to come to work earlier than the official starting time on a regular basis” and “Being asked about romantic relationships and other personal matters.”

Revisions to Japan’s Civil Code lowering the age of adulthood to 18 for a range of activities, including voting, took effect in April 2022, making it even more important to understand and record the awareness of the 18-year-olds who represent Japan’s next generation. With this in mind, in October 2018 The Nippon Foundation launched the Awareness Survey of 18-Year-Olds as an ongoing survey of young men and women across Japan aged around 18, to survey their values, attitudes toward politics and elections, understanding of social issues, and other current themes on an ongoing basis.