More than 15% of companies in Japan plan to increase the number of new university graduates hired in 2024, according to a recent survey from Recruit Works Institute, a part of Japanese staffing giant Recruit Co., Ltd.

The study also found that 3.6% of respondents said they will decrease hiring of graduates in 2024. These numbers are an improvement from the previous year, when 10.9% of companies said they plan to hire graduates in 2023, while 3.9% said they would cut back. 

The report also states that the willingness to hire new graduates has increased the second year in a row and companies are looking to hire students who graduated after 2022, noting that 2023 and 2024 graduates will see an upward trend in hiring. The report attributes this to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The largest industries looking to hire 2024 graduates are information and communication at 21.7%, restaurant and accommodations at 20.1%, machinery manufacturing at 16.9%, wholesale at 16.8%, and retail at 16.6%.

To combat the labour shortage stemming from the Covid-19 crisis, companies want to offer more compensation to new hires. According to the survey, over half, or 54.9% have already increased starting salaries or plan to do so. This is an increase of 10.4% from 44.5% the previous year.

The survey collected data from 7,200 private companies with at least 5 employees. Of the 7,200, about 60.3% or 4,341 provided responses between October and November 2022.