職なき若者―構造的ミスマッチなくせ

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 25
EDITORIAL: 'Ice age' for job-hunters
職なき若者―構造的ミスマッチなくせ

Japanese university students graduating next spring face an extremely frosty job climate that is often described as a "super ice age."
　「超氷河期」という言葉さえ聞く。

The ratio of graduating students with job offers has fallen to a record low. This year, one in six students finished their studies to find themselves jobless new graduates. Next year stands to be even worse.
　来春卒業予定の大学生の就職内定率が、過去最低に落ち込んでいる。１年上の先輩たちは、６人に１人が進路が決まらぬまま大学を出て新卒未就業者となった。このままゆけば、もっと多くの無業の若者が生まれかねない。

Most students attend university with the hope of finding a worthwhile job to earn a livelihood and establish a foothold in society. The job crunch is blighting their hopes.
　大学で様々なことを学んだ後、やりがいのある仕事を見つけ、稼ぎを得て社会に足場を築く。そんな人生の予想図はもろくも崩れつつある。

Companies are tightening their hiring standards and often end their recruitment activities even before meeting their targets. The situation has created a growing inequality in access to employment between the so-called winning and losing groups.
　浮かび上がるのは勝ち組、負け組といわれるような就職格差の広がりだ。
　企業は厳選採用を進め、予定数に満たなくても採用活動を打ち切る。大企業のメガネにかなう人は奪い合いになる一方、受けては落ちることを繰り返し、追いつめられる学生がいる。

A recent survey of universities by the Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training found that the proportion of students who graduated this spring without a job was 30 percent or higher at many new private universities and smaller institutions.
　労働政策研究・研修機構が各大学を調べたところ、今春の新卒未就業者が３割以上を占めたのは、新設の私大や小規模校が目立った。

Officials at university employment counseling centers say students who are having difficulty in finding work often don't know what kind of career they want to pursue and can't write effective job application forms.
大学の就職センター担当者は、「何をしたらいいかわからない」「企業に出すエントリーシートが書けない」といった点を学生の課題に挙げる。

Frustrated, a growing number of students are simply giving up on their job search.
途中で就職活動から降りてしまう学生も増えているという。

The economic downturn is not entirely to blame for the tough job market facing university graduates. These employment woes are an unfortunate combination of several structural factors that should be addressed.
　今の就職難を不況だけのせいにするのは間違いだ。それを超えた構造的な不運が学生たちを苦しめている。

The percentage of high school students enrolling in universities now exceeds 50 percent, up from 25 percent two decades ago.
　２０年前に２５％だった大学の進学率は５割を超え、多様な若者が学ぶようになった。

Despite this new diversity of students in universities, Japan's job market has not adjusted to the change.
だが、就職市場はそれに見合うものになっていない。

Universities today appear to be failing at their responsibility in educating students to help them identify career aspirations and preparing them to enter the work force.
何をすべきかつかめず、社会に出る準備が整わない若者を大学は無責任に送り出す。

The business community also has failed to devise a more flexible approach to hiring in line with changes in both the quality and quantity of students.
　経済界の方も、大卒者の質と量の変化に応じた多様で柔軟な採用のあり方を、示せていない。

A society that cannot offer hope for young people has no future. Every possible effort should be made to fix the problem.
　若者が希望を持てぬ社会に未来はない。打てるだけの手を打とう。

Job fairs jointly organized by small and medium-size companies seeking new graduates are gaining popularity.
　採用意欲のある中小企業を集めた合同説明会が盛んになってきた。

But have these efforts, intended to widen the perspective of students focused on landing a job at a large company and match them with smaller businesses, really produced the expected effects?
大企業志向の学生の視野を広げさせ、マッチングする試みは成果を上げているか。

Additionally, there has been little attention to fostering cooperation between universities and Hello Work job centers, which tend to be avoided by university students.
学生が敬遠しがちなハローワークと大学の連携は、まだ十分といえない。

How much effort have universities been making to take advantage of the series of job-creation measures adopted by the government to help graduates find work?
政府が矢継ぎ早に繰り出す雇用対策を卒業生につなぐよう、大学はどれだけフォローに努めているか。

Clearly, more should be done at the front line of support for young people in search of employment.
現場の工夫はなお必要だろう。

Then, there should be a society-wide campaign to correct the structural mismatch between school education and the job market.
　そのうえで、学校教育と産業社会の間で広がる構造的なミスマッチの是正に、社会を挙げて取り組むべきだ。

Career counseling to enable students to develop the mind-set needed to join the work force should be firmly incorporated into the education system.
　職業人となる意識を身につけさせるキャリア教育を、学校体系にきちんと位置づける。

As well, there should be multiple paths from university to the job market.
大学から職業へのコースは複線であるべきだ。

Companies, for their part, need to urgently improve their recruitment processes that undermine the purpose of university education to help students develop their own abilities. These processes have grown longer over years, forcing students to start job-hunting activities earlier in their college life.
Businesses should instead adopt a recruitment approach more focused on the academic achievements of students.
企業は大学の人材育成力を損なう就活の早期化・長期化を正し、学業の成果を問う採用に変える。

They should also break with the tradition of hiring graduates for full-time jobs all at once so that young job-seekers can have more than one chance to get hired.
何度かチャレンジできるよう新卒一括採用からも転換しよう。

The government, academic world and business community have begun discussions over this challenge.
　政府と大学、経済界の話し合いが始まった。

Instead of simply keeping up a front by announcing empty agreements or futile ethical codes, they need to come up with truly effective reforms.
守られぬ協定や倫理憲章でお茶を濁すことなく、実効性のある改革を打ち出さねばならない。