Prime Minister Naoto Kan held the first meeting of the Task Force Team for the Employment of New Graduates at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Task Force Team for the Employment of New Graduates was established on the Prime Minister's instruction, taking into consideration the severe employment situation of college and high school graduates this year and in the years to come, and in order to implement even stronger measures across the government. The Task Force Team will create a "Short- and Medium- to Long-term Policy Plan" and submit it to the Prime Minister.

During the meeting, the employment situation of new graduates and measures related to this were discussed.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address, "As you know, an extremely difficult employment situation persists in Japan, especially for young people who have just graduated college or high school.
Building on the actions we have already carried out, we must swiftly implement further measures for new graduates this year who were not able to find employment by April and for those who will be new graduates next year. For the time being, as a short-term measure, I would like for you to identify a direction for action within about a week and compile future measures based on that decision."