Also, the year after graduation should be regarded as a period of joint follow-up by schools and employment agencies. Especially in regard to unemployed graduates and freeters, each party should assess the situation and support the employment of those young people.

　　With respect to college students, internship opportunities, career counseling, and other guidance schemes should be implemented soon after they enter college to eventually enable them to make independent career decisions.

　　Companies should give due consideration to the academic accomplishment of students when screening job applicants, as that is the primary function of students. Universities should draw upon France's baccalaureate system, for example, and introduce a system of university graduation examination or college academic certification test.

　　Finally, as a measure to expand employment opportunities, companies should amend their traditional practice of recruiting only prospective new graduates and open their doors to those who have already graduated.

　　Enhancing career education and the role of industries

　　Career education aiming to cultivate work values should be a consecutive (連續的) program provided over an ample amount of time beginning in the primary, junior high, and high school compulsory education stage.

　　In addition to teaching students about the significance of working and about occupations in general, career education should also include a course on "work and daily living" as a comprehensive course aiming to prepare students to become working members of society. The course should deal with a broad range of topics relating to the work concept, such as rights and obligations stipulated in labor laws, as well as with the mechanics of the pension system and other social security institutions and with such immediate issues as the environment and energy. Such a course would help youths to select their own lifestyles, including how to achieve a good balance between work and private life.

　　The industrial community should form organizations of companies (such as NPOs) to address career education from a cross-cutting perspective and actively engage in activities to support the development of human resources for the next generation. For example, they are expected to develop and provide educational programs based on their unique technology and know-how, send personnel to schools, and offer funds and equipment.

　　In regional areas in Japan, activities to revitalize regional industries and promote new industries should be linked to model projects that incorporate regional characteristics and aim to foster and retain young people as future leaders of the region. For example, local governments could utilize the 500 or so young workers' centers throughout Japan as the bases of such projects with the cooperation of regional businesses and schools.