Unemployment has been found to be the main cause of suicide among young people in Japan. National Police Agency statistics show that the number increased in the past five years, with 150 people under 30-years of age committed suicide because they failed to land a job after college.. Students raised the difficulty of launching a career if they are not employed immediately after graduation. Universities began to set up counseling services to address the problem of depression. President of job-search firm Catalysis Co. explains to the Japan Times that college students feel powerless when they don’t get interview offers, saying that “unlike entrance exams, there are no test scores to refer to in predicting the likelihood of being accepted by companies”. Only 91% landed a job among graduates last year, a low mark compared to the 96.9% in 2008. The NPA is tracking reasons of suicide in an attempt to curb the annual number of 30,000 for the past 14 years.
