Over half of new hires feared retraction of job offers: survey

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TOKYO, June 22 Kyodo -
A total of 54.2 percent of people who began working this spring had been
worried that their prospective employers would renege on their job offers,
according to survey results released Monday by the Sanno Institute of
Management.
Such fears grew among those who were joining the workforce because many
companies had been taking back their promises to hire job seekers as the
economy took a dramatic turn for the worse from last autumn.
A plurality of respondents to the survey, or 48.6 percent, said they would have
accepted their fate as long as companies compensated them for not keeping their
word. In addition, 33.6 percent said any employer's decision to break its
promise would have been completely unacceptable.
In regard to next year's employment prospects, 99 percent said job hunters will
have an even tougher time.
The amount of money the respondents want to be making annually when they turn
35 averaged 7.31 million yen, down 180,000 yen from a year ago. The actual sum
they expected to get was 5.96 million yen, also down 130,000 yen. Both figures
hit all-time lows.
The percentage of respondents anticipating pay cuts in the future doubled to
18.4 percent.
The survey was conducted between late March and early April on some 614 newly
hired workers at 145 companies, with 589 valid responses.
==Kyodo
2009-06-22 22:38:28