Challenges High School Graduates Face in Employment as Revealed by “Support Project for High School Students and Graduates in Employment” of Osaka Prefecture

Abstract

This paper aimed to analyze data obtained from interviews with high school graduates and employers as part of the Osaka Prefectural Education Agency’s “Support Project for High School Students and Graduates in Employment,” to identify challenges that emerge from both the perspective of high school graduates and employers, particularly during the first year after high school graduation.

The results of the survey revealed that being cut off from school support after graduation harms the job retention of high school graduates, interpersonal adjustment in the workplace tends to take precedence over efforts to improve the working environment and residential support in the practices of companies aiming to retain high school graduates at workplace, and some companies do not have sufficient knowledge of training high school graduates and their career visions. These issues cover a range of welfare, education, and labor policies and need to be placed on the cross-disciplinary policy agenda, not limited to support over time from school to work.