Young People in Japan Think Wages Most Important When Job Hunting

The Nippon Foundation, which regularly conducts surveys to gain better understanding of the opinions held by young people aged 17 to 19 years old, ran a survey in early March 2025 asking 1,000 young people nationwide about their views on employment and work.

When it came to job hunting, 85% of young women and 78.4% of young men in total answered that they were either “concerned” or “somewhat concerned.”

Asked how they felt about working, 84.2% of young women and 72.5% of young men said they were concerned, for a gap of more than 10 percentage points between the two.

When it came to choosing a job, at 52.6 %, the majority of respondents placed most importance on “wage and benefits,” followed by 35.7% prioritizing a “benefits package,” and 33.2% who considered working in their “desired industry” top. This seems to indicate that young people are being more pragmatic, putting the assurance of “earning money” ahead of “liking” their work.

Respondents were also asked about what they would consider harassment at work by supervisors and clients. The most common response given by both young men and women was “being shouted at for making a mistake.” The practice of “being made to come to work before the start of regular hours” is also now considered harassment. In most cases, the percentage of young women who considered certain practices and actions to be harassment was higher than for young men, particularly “being shouted at for making a mistake,” “being asked questions of a private nature,” “being asked for personal contact details,” and “comments being made about physical appearance.”

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)