890,000 new recruits in Japan start 1st day at work

BUSINESS APR. 03, 2017 - 04:44PM JST ( 4 ) 

Japan start 1st day at work" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Japan start 1st day at work" />Newly-hired employees of Japan Airlines (JAL) group pose for photos during an initiation ceremony in a hangar at Haneda airport in Tokyo on Monday.REUTERS/Toru Hanai

TOKYO —

An estimated 890,000 new recruits at companies, public offices and other organizations across Japan marked their first day at work Monday, the first business day of the country’s new fiscal year.

Job availability for graduates has continued to improve over the past several years, with 90.6% of those slated to graduate from universities before April having found jobs as of Feb 1 while 94% of job-seeking high school seniors had found jobs as of the end of January, according to the labor ministry.

Labor shortages are particularly pronounced in the construction and distribution industries.

Welcome ceremonies were held at a number of companies and other employers on Monday morning, with new workers expressing their motivations. Those who started working at the local governments of disaster-stricken towns vowed to contribute to reconstruction efforts.

In the town of Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture, which was hit hard by strong earthquakes in April last year, Mayor Hironori Nishimura asked 21 new employees to strive to rebuild the township. “Many of our residents are still not living normal lives. We want you to aim big to write a new history of the town of Mashiki.”

Masato Mizuta, 26, whose grandparents are living in . . .

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