The Recruit Works Institute, a research division of Recruit Holdings Co., estimated the number of job offers stood at about 683,000, shrinking largely as major companies like ANA Holdings Inc., Japan Airlines Co. and H.I.S. Co. tended to suspend recruitment amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
The number of offers to new graduates had increased for five consecutive years through 2019 before falling this spring.
The ratio of job offers to applicants declined for the second year in a row to 1.53 from 1.83, logging the sharpest fall since 2011, the institute said.
By industry, job offers in the service and information sector plunged 21.6 percent from the previous year to 73,100.
Distributors logged a 17.9-percent drop to 274,000, while manufacturers saw a 16.2-percent decline to 234,000, respectively, according to the survey.
"The magnitude of the fall (in job offers) was not as bad as the downturns following the bursting of Japan's bubble economy (in the 1990s) and the (2009) global financial crisis," said Hiroyuki Motegi, an analyst at the Recruit Works Institute.
The institute conducted an initial survey which received responses from 2,479 job-seeking students and 4,481 companies with five or more employees, while 3,733 companies responded to an extra survey in June.
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